iflffl IlllllinnRil 

m\ Bjl UmIII 

Mm m Wmm 

m 

JHHBra 

JHlBli 

FwJn Hill MH9 

H nisi 

rQnnM Hfl 

Silfl Hffll HI 

H raff row**!*] 

■ IH 

I IS mil 

I IBS 

hHsSqiIi 

I 801iaX8 

■ fSKJlflmlifl H 







I I 



m ; ■ : 



SI 



'o 6" 




,0 







\ ■ s 













V# : 



^ 



' o * X * A G* 



> 

aV t/>. 



*0 






















% 



°-, rO* " ^ A* v* «- 

'- -^ A^ **£%£-> 



^ 









X°°^ 







By WALTER WINANS 



The Art of Revolver Shooting. 

8vo. Fully Illustrated, net, $5.00 

Hints on Revolver Shooting. 

i6mo. Illustrated . . % . 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 



HINTS ON REVOLVER SHOOTING 




HINTS 



ON 



REVOLVER SHOOTING 



BY 



WALTER WINANS 

Chevalier of the Imperial Russian Order of St. Stanislaus, Vice-President of the 

National Rifle Association, President of the Ashford Rifle Club 

Author of " The Art of Revolver Shooting " 



i 
> > 

< . • 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

Gbe "Knickerbocker fl>reg6 

1904 



LiB*&ffV.ftf CONGRESS 
Two cooies Received 
OCT 11 1904 

CoByrteht Entry 
€oh. n, t ;** 

CLASS O- XXo. No. 
' COPY B 



W' 



Copyright, 1904 

BY 

WALTER WTNANS 



Published, September, 1904 



Ubc Ifcnicfcerbocfeer ipress, mew 12orft 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — Selecting a Revolver and Ammuni- 
tion ...... 



II. — Cleaning and Care of Weapons 
III. — Sights ...... 

IV. — Learning to Use the Revolver 

V. — Gallery Shooting 
VI. — Bisley: 2o-Yards Stationary Targei 



i 
ii 

23 

43 
47 



YIL. — Bisley (continued) : Disappearing 

Target ...... 56 

VIII. — Bisley (continued): Rapid Firing . 71 

IX. — Bisley (continued) : Traversing 

Target ...... 77 

X. — Bisley (continued): Stationary 50- 

Yards Target . . . • %3 

XI. — Bisley (continued): Team Shooting 

and Coaching ..... 85 

XII. — Bisley (concluded) : General Re- 
marks on Shooting in Competitions 88 

iii 



IV 



Contents 



CHAPTER 

XIII. — Stage Shooting .... 
XIV. — Trick Shooting .... 
XV. — Target Shooting off Horseback 
XVI. — Shooting in Self-Defence . 
XVII. — Revolver Shooting for Ladies . 
XVIII. — Shooting in the Dark 
Index . . . 



I02 

1 06 
108 
119 
124 
127 



44 Single 



ver 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Webley Fosbery Automatic Revolver 

The Three Principal Revolvers Used at 
Bisley 

Cartridges .... 

Self-Lubricating Cartridge . 

^ Extension Stock as Applied to . 
Action Revolver 

Target Sights .... 

Winans's Revolver Front-Sight 

?! How to Cock a Revolver 

The Correct Way to Hold a Revoi 

The Correct Position of the Thumb 

Holding Revolver Upside Down. Fig. A. 

Holding Revolver Upside Down. Fig. B. 

Holding Revolver Half Canted to Right 
Fig. C 

Holding Revolver Half Canted to Left 
Fig. D 

Mechanism of the Smith & Wesson Hammer 
less Safety Revolver 

.38 Safety Smith & Wesson 

.32 Safety Smith & Wesson 

.22 Smith & Wesson Pistol and Interchange 
able .32 Barrel ..... 

v 



PAGE 

3 

4 
6 



12 

16 
21 

28 

30 

3i 
96 

97 
98 

99 

109 
no 
120 

121 



HINTS ON 
REVOLVER SHOOTING 



CHAPTER I 

SELECTING A REVOLVER AND AMMUNITION 

YOU must first decide for what purpose you want 
the revolver; a "general utility" one is about 
as much use as a hunter who goes in harness — not 
much good for either purpose. If you want a hun- 
ter, buy an English hunter; if a harness horse, buy 
an American trotter. In the same way, for whatever 
purpose you want a revolver, buy one, if by any 
means you can do so, especially for that purpose. 
Anyhow, it is useless to compete with a short- 
barrelled pocket revolver against target revolvers. 
This class of revolver is intended only for self- 
defence at short range, and has no pretensions to 
accuracy. 

I think that six and a half inches in the barrel, 
exclusive of cylinder, is about the most practical 
length; of course, a longer barrel theoretically gives 
greater accuracy, especially at long range, owing to 

i 



2 Revolver Shooting 

there being more length to burn the powder in, and 
to the sights being farther apart, which minimises 
error in aiming; but practically this advantage is 
more than counterbalanced by making the revolver 
heavy at the muzzle, so that it therefore balances 
badly. The balance ought to be as near the trigger 
as possible. For a pocket revolver, a short barrel 
may be absolutely necessary for portability. At 
Bisley some men use very long barrels, and I believe 
seven-and-a-half-inch barrels are not unusual in their 
revolvers; but I prefer six and a quarter inches, 
exclusive of chamber, and I do not consider, al- 
though the Bisley rules allow it, that anything over 
that length in the barrel is a " Military" revolver 
and should be permitted in military competitions. 

See that the trigger-pull is "sweet," and has no 
"drag." Also, have your trigger-pull not over four 
and a half pounds. The pull is often left very 
heavy, so as to be alterable to suit customers, and 
the shopman may forget to have this altered. If 
you are not hampered by rules, about three or 
three and a half pounds is the best trigger-pull for 
general purposes. Have the thumb-piece of the 
hammer slightly roughed to prevent slipping. For 
rapid cocking, a rather long thumb-piece is an 
advantage. 

I do not like a double-action revolver, except for 
a pocket revolver, as one cannot do accurate shoot- 
ing when cocking with the trigger. 



Selecting a Revolver 3 

For a man whose hands are apt to get moist, 
roughing the trigger may prevent slipping; but it 
may also make the finger sore if roughed too sharp. 

Some revolvers have too narrow a trigger, almost 
like a piece of wire ; a wide, spoon-shaped trigger is 
best, as less likely to cut the finger, especially with 
the regulation Bisley heavy trigger-pull. 

Get a revolver which, when you grip the stock 
properly, has the barrel and your arm as nearly in a 
horizontal line as possible. Many makes of revolv- 
ers and automatic pistols have the stock much below 
the level of the barrel, which, consequently, is above 
the hand. This makes shooting more difficult ; you 
are apt to cant the weapon to one side, and the re- 



Webley Fosbury Automatic 
Revolver 



coil is more severe on your wrist. A man who holds 
a revolver properly does not need a big stock, even 
- 1 - if he has a big hand. 

Herewith are given illustrations of the three 



■r s : 




The three Principal Revolvers used at Bisley: 

Smith & Wesson (" Winans's Model "), " Bisi.ey " Colt, and 

" Target" Webley 



H 



Selecting a Revolver 



r principal makes of revolvers used at Bisley : Smith & 
Wesson ("Winans's Model ,, ), "Bisley" Colt, and 
"Target" Webley. 

* For rough work, and in strong sunlight, a revolver 
^ is best blued. I temporarily paint the rib, etc., on 

sunny days at Bisley with "sight-black." I find the 
Webley Fosbury revolver very good for rapid firing 
, and prefer it to most automatic pistols. 

Revolver ammunition is usually made in the fol- 

* lowing calibres: .32, .38, .41, .44, .45, .455. Most 
fe of these can be had loaded with various smokeless 

powders, as King's semi-smokeless, Riflite, Cordite, 
Walsrode, etc. 

* The Union Metallic Cartridge Company, U. S. 
A., have supplied me with great quantities of .44 
"gallery ammunition," loaded with both round and 

i\ semi-round bullets. These have a small charge of 

black powder, and I should prefer this ammunition 

' out of a Smith & Wesson Russian Model revolver for 

self-defence, as well as for competitions up to twenty 

I yards, as I find it the most accurate for exhibition 
shooting. I believe most professional stage-shooters 

» use it. I suppose the various English makers of 
ammunition could supply "gallery " charges in any 
of their various calibre cartridges, but I know of 
none and should not advise the beginner to try 
loading this sort of ammunition in English cartridge- 
cases for himself. The dome of the cap is generally 
higher than in American cartridges ; if, therefore, a 



Revolver Shooting 



i 



very small quantity of powder be put in the case % 
and the bullet pressed down, the bullet will come 



• 32-.44 is a special 
target cartridge, 
containing n grs. 
of powder and 83 grs. of lead. 
Bullet seated even with mouth 
of shell. Penetration, 5 ^-in. 
pine boards. Gallery charge, 6 
grs. of powder and 50 gr. round 
ball loaded in same shell. 




.38-44 is 
also a spec- 
ial target 
cartridge, containing 20 grs. of 
powder and 146 of lead, either 
self-lubricating or grooved bul- 
let. Bullet is seated even with 
mouth of shell. Penetration, 
6 %-in. pine boards. Gallery 
charge, 6 grs. of powder and 70 
gr. round ball loaded in same 
shell. 




.44 R u s- || 
sian Model 
is a car- fi 
tridge for long - range target y 
work. It contains 23 grs. of 
powder and 256 grs. of lead. , 
Bullets are either self -lubri- 
cating or the regular grooved. jJ 
Penetration, J}4, Ji-in* pine 
boards. Gallery charge, 7 grs. k 
of powder and no gr. round 
ball loaded in same shell. 




.44 Win- 
chester is 
the regu- 
lar model 73 Winchester rifle r 
cartridge, and contains 40 grs. 
of powder and 217 grains of <^ 
lead. Penetration, 6^ ^5 -in. 
pine boards. 




.38 Win- 
chester 
rifle car- 
tridge, containing 40 grs. of pow- 
der and 180 grs. of lead. Pene- 
tration, 7 ^5-in. pine boards. 



=\' ^- -f 



.450 cartridge 
contains 13 * 
grs. of pow- 
der and 226 grs. of lead. Eng- {■ 
lish or American cartridges can. 
be used. 



■ 



down on the dome, stop up the flash-hole, and cause 
a misfire. The way to obviate this is to take a wad 



, 



Selecting a Revolver 7 

of suitable calibre, make a hole in the centre, and 
push the wad down to the bottom of the cartridge 
before putting in the powder, so as to fill up the 
base of the cartridge and let the bullet ''seat" on 
the powder, higher than the dome. Makers can do 
this properly, but an amateur may put the wad in 
too loosely, and a grain or so of powder may get 
under the wad. The result would be that, on the 
shot being fired, the wad would be driven half-way 
up the barrel, and might at the next shot cause an 
accident. 

Be sure to use only low-pressure powder, if you 
use smokeless, as high-pressure powders are dan- 
gerous in a revolver. 

Many people do not understand this difference in 
powder pressure, and injure their revolvers by ex- 
perimenting with what become practically " blast- 
ing* ' instead of propelling charges. 

For the twenty-yards "Military" competitions at 
Bisley, in which one is not allowed to use less than 
thirteen grains of black powder (or its equivalent in 
muzzle velocity of smokeless) and 2i6\ grs. of lead 
in the bullet, in less than .45 calibre, I have used 
Eley's .45 black powder cartridges and the Union 
Metallic Cartridge Company's similar ammunition 
in most of my competitions. I think the Union 
Metallic Company's gives slightly less recoil and 
fewer "unaccountables" than the English equival- 
ent; I suppose it has a slower-burning powder. 



8 Revolver Shooting 

That is why, of late years, I have confined myself 
to the use of it. They also load these cartridges 
with a smokeless powder, which I have used and 
with which I have made my bests on record in the 
rapid-firing competitions. 

For the fifty-yard competitions, I have used these 
two makes of .45 calibre ammunition (with black 
powder); but my "best-on-record" scores at this 
distance were made with the Union Metallic Cart- 
ridge Company's .44 calibre and .32 calibre cart- 
ridges, loaded respectively with twenty-three and 
six grains of black powder, with the Smith & Wes- 
son "Self-Lubricating bullet." 

I have also done very good shooting with the 
ordinary Union Metallic Cartridge Company's .44 
Russian Model ammunition, black powder, and 
ordinary bullet. 

I find that in competing at fifty yards, one 7nust, 
if physically strong enough to stand it, shoot a big 
charge to get the greatest accuracy. 

This charge of twenty-three grains of black pow- 
der has a very heavy recoil, heavier than the English 
army .455 ammunition. I do not think that any 
other competitor at Bisley uses such a heavy load. 
The .32, with eleven grains powder charge, has not 
an unpleasant recoil. It is not nearly as heavy, 
in the .32 Smith & Wesson Russian Model (.44 
" frame," .32 calibre), as the .45 with thirteen grains 
powder in a .45 calibre, and is very accurate at fifty 



Selecting a Revolver 9 

yards, but by the Bisley rules it cannot be used in 
" Military Revolver" competitions. 

Never use any ammunition different from that re- 
commended by the makers of the particular revolver 
you are using, without consulting them. I have 
had several narrow escapes (in one case having a 
bullet stop half-way in the barrel) when experiment- 
ing with various powders suitable for rifles, but not 
for revolvers. 




Complete Self-Lubricating 
Cartridge 




A, 



Cut Showing Details of 
Construction 

Lubricant ; B, Plunger ; C, Ducts 
D, Metal Lining 



Explanation. — At the 
moment of explosion, the 
lead plunger ( 13 ), being 
driven forward, forces the 
lubricant contained in the 
cavity (A) out through the 
ducts (C) in front of the bul- 
let, and at a point where 
most effective. 

The ducts being complete- 
ly closed by the plunger, all 
escape of gas and loss of 
force is consequently pre- 
vented. 



The new model Smith & Wesson cartridge with 
"Self-Lubricating bullet" (see diagram) is specially 
designed to prevent fouling and so do away with the 
necessity of constantly cleaning a revolver whilst 



io Revolver Shooting 

shooting. This is, especially for ladies, a great ad- 
vantage. The bullet is self-lubricating, instead of 
carrying its lubricant in canilures. In this bullet a 
better lubricant is used (or rather, perhaps, it lubri- 
cates better) than that which can be held in canilures ; 
and it is forced by the explosion into the grooves of 
the barrel in front of, instead of behind, the bullet, 
which is, of course, the more correct principle, for 
the bullet, being smooth without any canilure, gets 
an easier bearing on the rifling. It is made in regu- 
lar .32, .38, and .44 calibres, also in .32 long, and 
special .38. Bullets are also sold separately. 



CHAPTER II 

CLEANING AND CARE OF WEAPONS 

ALWAYS clean your revolver the moment you 
have finished shooting. If you leave it over 
till the next day, you may as well throw the re- 
volver away as expect to win prizes with it. 

The larger the calibre, the easier it is to clean and 
the less chance is there of spoiling the rifling by 
jamming the rod in it. I prefer wooden rods as less 
apt to spoil the rifling, but the very narrow calibres 
require a metal rod (soft metal for preference), as 
the wood would have to be too thin and would be 
liable to break in the bore. 

Clean from the breech, not the muzzle end ; the 
last fraction of an inch at the muzzle is where the 
rifling, if damaged, spoils the shooting most. For 
the same reason, it is as well to have the rifling 
V reamed off " at the mouth of the muzzle, so that 
the edge of it is protected. If you use nitro-pow- 
ders, examine the interior of your barrel at frequent 
intervals after cleaning, to see if there is any damage 
going on. 

Use the cleaning fluids recommended for the 

ii 



12 



Revolver Shooting 



particular powder you are using, as what may be 
good for one powder is of no use for another. 

The great thing is to clean very thoroughly. I 
use cotton-wool of the best quality rather than tow, 
and I do not use boiling water unless in very excep- 
tional cases, for fear of overlooking a spot in drying, 
and getting rust in consequence. If necessary to 
use water to remove fouling, let it be as hot as 
possible. 

Do not try to oil the lock, or put it right ; send it 
occasionally to the maker to be seen to. It is also 




Extension Stock as Applied to .44 Single- Action Revolver 

well to have a cleaning kit with wooden, not metal 
(except for calibres of .32 or less), cleaning rods, 
cotton-wool, cleaning fluids, screw-drivers, etc., all 
in proper compartments, and to put them back when 
used. See that the cotton-wool is absolutely dry and 
clean before using it. Throw away such pieces as are 
used. Do not use too big a piece on your rod, such 
as would get the latter jammed in the barrel, as you 
may ruin the shooting qualities of the barrel by using 
force to remove it. Have the cleaning rods long 
enough, or you may bark your knuckles. 



Cleaning and Care of Weapons 13 

I do not care much for detachable stocks for re- 
volvers. They only turn a revolver into an inferior 
carbine, and the revolver is not meant for a long- 
range weapon. 

I also do not like the cardboard cases in which 
American revolvers are usually packed for permanent 
use; they are not strong enough and are apt to in- 
jure the sights, especially fine sights. A holster, 
again, is not the thing in which to keep a revolver 
habitually, as the sights get knocked about ; if the 
holster is used out-of-doors it gets damp inside and 
rusts the weapon. Great care should always be 
taken to see that the holster is absolutely dry inside 
before placing a revolver therein. To dry the in- 
side of a holster, make some oats very hot in a 
saucepan and fill the holster with them, emptying 
them out when cold. Some American holsters are 
made of india-rubber, to prevent perspiration from 
the body rusting the revolver, but such an one is 
very liable to retain dampness inside after rain. 
The holster which I prefer (for wearing, not as a 
pistol-case) is a cowboy holster, without any button 
to the flap. If you fasten the flap, you cannot get 
the pistol out in a hurry. A lining of rabbit fur is 
useful in keeping out sand or dust. 

My pistol-cases are good, strong, and solid, of 
leather, with brass corners like gun-cases. Each 
case holds four, placed either side by side, each pis- 
tol in its own compartment, or, with a tray, two in 



14 Revolver Shooting 

the tray and two below. If you have only two re- 
volvers, they can be put in a case without this upper 
tray, or the tray can be used for cartridges. Under 
all circumstances, use a good lock, — not the sort that 
any key fits, — keep the case locked, and wear the 
key on your watch-chain, so that you are sure no- 
body gets at it. Keep the case in a dry place, and 
look at the pistols occasionally, when they are not 
in constant use, to see that they are not rusting. 

Keep your cartridges, if not in the same case as 
the revolvers, locked in a good leather case. This 
may be fitted with compartments for various calibres 
and loads. The word "loaded" may with advantage 
be inscribed inside the lid of the revolver cases. 
People then feel less encouragement to meddle with 
the contents. 



CHAPTER III 

SIGHTS 

SIGHTS are made in many forms. Some suit 
one man best ; others another. You cannot 
decide which suits your individual case without 
trying each sort for yourself. 

When you find one form which suits you, it is a 
pity to risk spoiling your shooting by changing to 
others; a beginner should never do so, as he will 
get into an uncertain way of taking his sights, in- 
stead of always the same, which is the only way to 
make reliable, consistent, shooting. Of course, all 
your sights may be useless if you are going to shoot 
in a competition, consequent on the authorities 
making some new rule as to "fit for rough usage" ; 
and then you will have to shoot with whatever will 
pass the rules. 

My patent sight has, so far, complied with every 
rule, and it can be used for hammering nails without 
sustaining damage. 

The main point is to have a front sight at once 
easily seen, and of which you see each time the same 
amount ; not sometimes more and at other times 
less, else you cannot keep your elevation. 

15 



i6 



Revolver Shooting 



Also the "U" in the back sight should have 
bevelled edges, so as to give a sharp edge, else it 
looks "woolly/' 

Again, if you are not able to see daylight each 
side of the front sight when it is in the " U/' you 





Side view End view 

ELEVATING REAR SIGHT 



Side view End view 

44 PAINE " FRONT SIGHT 




Side view End view 

ELEVATING REAR SIGHT 



Side view End view 
FRONT SIGHT 




End view of rear Side view of Front Rear 

target sight front target sight LYMAN sights 

Target Sights 



cannot be aware that you are not covering part of 
the front sight on one side or the other, and, there- 
fore, whether your aim is in horizontal axis with 
your barrel. 

The reason I prefer a "U"- to a ''V-shaped 
notch in the hind sight is because in the "V" you 
do not see this daylight so well. 



Sights 1 7 

As soon as you can shoot well enough to know 
whether bad shots are the fault of the sighting of 
the revolver or of your own holding, you can sight 
the revolver properly for yourself; and in this way 
you can do the sighting much more accurately, and 
with greater nicety, than by taking it to a gunmaker 
and saying: " Alter the sights to shoot three inches 
higher and two to the left at twenty yards, and open 
the 'IT a little," etc. To do this, have front and 
hind sights made of horn, put in temporarily, with- 
out any "U" in the hind sight, and both hind and 
front sights a little higher than you think necessary. 
Then go to the range with your revolver and several 
files of various sizes, including some that are round. 
Make a slight "U" in the measured centre of the top 
edge of the back sight. Shoot a few shots at the 
range you want to sight for (taking care that you do 
not go clean over the top of the butt, owing to being 
sighted too high), and then keep working with the 
files, first at one sight and then at the other, till you 
get them approximately right. 

Do not get the " U ' ' down too close to the barrel, 
as it will thus give you a blurry aim, especially when 
the barrel gets hot. If you find you shoot too high, 
unless you cut this"U" down take out the front 
sight and put in another higher one, rather than file 
the "U" unduly low. 

Remember when filing: Filing at the bottom of 
the "U" makes you shoot lower ; filing at the top 



1 8 Revolver Shooting 

of the front sight makes you shoot higher; filing on 
the side of the "U" or the front sight makes you 
shoot towards the side on which you have filed. 
Therefore, by filing a very little at a time where 
necessary, you can at last get your sighting perfect. 
Be sure to file a very little at a time, or you will 
overdo it. As in sculpture, you can easily take off, 
but cannot replace. If you have taken off too much 
anywhere, you may be able to correct this by filing 
so as to alter the direction. For instance, if you 
have been shooting too much to the right, you can 
correct this by filing on the left of the front sight 
or the left of the "U," whichever makes the more 
symmetrical job; but if, by doing so, you make the 
front sight too small or too narrow or make the 
"U" too wide, there is nothing to do but to put in 
a new front or hind sight and begin shooting and 
filing again. 

When you have got the sighting perfect, work 
carefully with your file (taking great care not to 
spoil the edge of the "U" nearest to the eye when 
aiming), and give a chamfered or bevelled edge to 
the other side of the "U," so that it has a knife- 
edge. This is to make the "U" look clear and yet 
allow the back sight to be strong. On this principle, 
you can let the hind sight be strong and over a quar- 
ter of an inch thick, and yet have a nice, clear ' ' U. ' ' 
Do not have the "U" deeper than a semicircle. If 
this "U" is too deep, it hampers your view of the 



Sights 19 

object aimed at. In fact, it should not be quite a 
real"U/' but a semicircle. You can also file all 
round the front sight, giving it a taper toward the 
muzzle, but keeping unaltered the silhouette that 
you see when aiming, so that the outline shall then 
stand clear to the eye. 

A gunmaker's vise (padded, so as not to bruise 
the revolver) is a useful thing, as it leaves both your 
hands free to use the files. 

I cannot tell you how much you may undercut 
the front sight, assuming you intend to use it at 
Bisley, as the rules alter so from year to year. I 
have an undercut bead-sight which some years was 
allowed at Bisley as a "Military Revolver," and in 
other years not. The best plan, if you are in any 
doubt as to its passing, is to send your revolver to 
the Council of the National Rifle Association for 
their approval some time before the Bisley meeting. 

When you have finished, and have had a final 
shoot to see if this finishing has not spoilt your ele- 
vation, etc., you can send your revolver to the 
maker, and ask him to make your sights precisely 
like your model ones, and to fix them permanently 
on the revolver without screws, if for Bisley use, so 
as to comply with the rules. When you get the 
revolver with these sights, if the work has been 
properly done, a very little more filing will put the 
matter right. 

Should you not be shooting at Bisley, or at any of 



20 Revolver Shooting 

those clubs which shoot under Bisley rules, you can, 
of course, get a revolver with Smith & Wesson's 
4 'Ira Paine' ' adjustable sights. Carry a miniature 
folding gilt screw-driver and sight-case on your 
watch-chain, as I do, and you will then be able to 
shoot in any light, at any range, or in any style of 
shooting, by merely giving a slight turn to the ad- 
justing screws to alter your elevation or direction; 
or take out a sight from your little case of sights, 
if a sight breaks or you want a different size or 
shape. Public opinion has not yet been educated 
to the point of considering this "a practical military 
sight," but this will come — in time. 

EXTRACTS FROM SPECIFICATIONS OF WALTER 
WINANS'S REVOLVER FRONT SIGHT 

Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in seeing 
the same amount of front sight each time aim is taken, 
unless the base of the sight is sufficiently undercut to 
form a "bead sight " ; such undercutting being, however, 
detrimental, as it weakens the "sight" and renders it 
very liable to injury, and is not permissible in Bisley re- 
volver competitions. The object of my invention is, 
therefore, to overcome this difficulty, and to this end I 
make the " sight " of metal, horn, wood, or other hard 
substance, with a strong, wide base, preferably of the 
" barleycorn " or triangular section. 

The face of the upper part of the " sight " facing the 
marksman (as much of it as it is desirable to see in 



. 



Sights 



21 



aiming) is made vertical, or inclined slightly towards 
the marksman, so as to cause it to appear black, as if 
in shadow. The visible part of the sight below the face 
inclines forward from the marksman, and downward, so 



FIG I 



Fio2 



Fjc.3 




6 & 



Fia4. 



F/c.5 



Fic8. Fic.7 



/, / 





~ — % 










*"" — ' \ 






- _> "••"•-'— - ._} 




s^SS 


W^ 


Ikr^ 




-■— ^— j==-=.---- -• TTjTlTjlfl 


L 


~~ 


n^dl 





«ifc#! 



Winans's Revolver Front Sight 



as to reflect the light and enable the face of the sight to 
be at once distinguished by its difference of shade from 
the lower part. It may be polished or plated to assist 
in reflecting the light, while, as a contrast, the vertical 
face is cross-filed, or "roughed," or may be hollowed 
out, so as to be in shadow, and give it a " dead " black 
appearance. 



22 Revolver Shooting 

In the drawing on page 21, I have shown what I 
consider the best means of carrying this out. Fig. 1 is 
a side view, full size, of a portion of a revolver barrel 
fitted with my improved " front sight." 

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are sections of the barrel at A B, 
showing two forms which the sight may assume in section, 
one having straight sides, the other concave. I show in 
Figs. 4 and 4*, on a larger scale, for the sake of clear- 
ness, a side and plan view of the sight shown in Fig. 1 
and in Fig. 5 a modification of this shape. Figs. 6 and 
7 are end views, showing two sectional forms of the sight, 
and corresponding in size with Figs. 4 and 5. In Figs. 
1 and 4, it will be seen that a is the vertical face of the 
sight, which is designed to present a dark appearance to 
the marksman; and b is the polished, inclined surface, 
which takes a rounded form. In the modification, Fig. 
5, the face a is slightly inclined towards the marksman, 
and the bright or polished surface b takes the form of a 
flat incline. 



CHAPTER IV 

LEARNING TO USE THE REVOLVER 

IT is assumed that you have procured an accurate 
revolver, properly sighted. 

First, open the revolver, and make sure that it 
is unloaded. Always do this before handling a 
revolver. 

Take a bottle of sight-black and paint both sights 
over with the liquid. I have seen men try to com- 
pete, even at Bisley, with their sights in a shiny 
state, which made it impossible for them to make 
good shooting on a white target with black "bull." 

For game shooting, or for military purposes, of 
course, a "dead" white (ivory for choice) tip to the 
front sight is preferable, or my patent military front 
sight, which answers the purposes both of a light on 
dark, or dark on light, sight. 

With a revolver, the first thing to consider is 
safety. It is, owing to its shortness, one of the 
most dangerous of firearms to handle. Even an 
expert must exercise great care; and in the hands 
of a beginner or a careless person it may be fearfully 
dangerous. I have had many very narrow escapes 

23 



24 Revolver Shooting 

in teaching men how to shoot ; it is not even safe to 
be behind them. ; they will turn round with the re- 
volver at full-cock, pointing it at you, and say: "I 
cannot understand why it will not go off; see! I am 
pulling as hard as I can at the trigger/' 

It is indispensable to have a safe background. 
Some people think that if the target is fastened to 
the trunk of a tree it is all safe, since the bullet will 
not go through the tree. This may be so if the tree 
is hit, but the bullet will, most likely, go past the 
tree when the beginner fires ; or, what is just as dan- 
gerous, graze the tree and go off at an angle. Also, 
in shooting with round bullets, and light gallery 
ammunition, the bullets may rebound from a hard 
tree and come back on the shooter. This I have 
actually seen happen. 

A good background is a high sandy bank, a thick 
pile of fagots, or, if not closer than fifty yards, a 
high brick or stone wall. The target may be stood 
some fifteen yards away from the wall to prevent 
danger of a bullet coming back on the shooter, and 
then the shooter can be far enough from the wall, if 
the wall is a background. If a lot of shooting is 
done, it is not very good for the wall, and if many 
shots hit the same spot they may gradually make a 
hole. Iron butts are expensive, especially for the 
large surface required by a beginner; at twenty 
yards, a beginner could not in my opinion safely 
shoot at a background less than twelve feet high 



■4 






\ 



Learning to Use the Revolver 25 

and some ten in width. Even then there should 
not be any one beyond it within half a mile, lest he 
should happen to let off by accident. Shooting 
out to sea is safe, if one keeps a good lookout for 
boats; but the glare from the water is bad. A 
sand- or chalk-pit is a good place to shoot in, or one 
can shoot against a high chalk cliff. It is'dangerous 
to shoot anywhere where people cross unexpectedly, 
as from round the corner of a building. 

The great thing is that the revolver should never 
point in any direction where it would matter if it 
went off by accident. This rule should be observed 
even with an empty revolver, because so many 
"I-did-not-know-it-was-loaded" accidents occur. 

Having got a butt, the learner should take a firm, 
narrow wooden table and place it some ten yards 
from the target. This target is preferably a "Bisley 
fifty-yards target/' four-inch bull's-eye. The Bis- 
ley cardboard targets are cheap; and, by pasting 
white patches on the white and black on the bull's- 
eye bullet-holes, one target can be used for a long 
time. I refer to the fifty-yards target because this 
four-inch bull's-eye is very easy to hit at ten yards' 
range. The Bisley revolver "bull's-eyes" count, at 
all ranges, seven points ; the concentric rings count- 
ing one point less, each, till the outermost one, 
which counts two points. The highest possible 
score, therefore, for the six shots is forty-two, or 
six times seven. It is best to shoot at this very big 



26 Revolver Shooting 

"bull" at ten yards, as making "bull's-eyes" encour- 
ages the beginner; and, as he gets more proficient, 
the two-inch twenty-yards ' ' bull' ' can be substituted. 
This I think preferable to going back farther from 
the target as your skill increases ; also it is safer, for 
the nearer the shooter is to the butt the wider his 
shots would have to be for him to miss it ; whereas, 
if he goes back to fifty yards, he may easily shoot 
over a very high butt. 

Place your empty revolver on the table, the 
weapon lying on its left side with the muzzle to- 
wards the target. The table is preferably a narrow 
one, so that, during the process of loading, the 
muzzle points to the ground beyond the table and 
not to the table itself, an accidental discharge being 
thus immaterial; a foot wide is about right; the 
length does not matter, so long as it will hold your 
telescope, cleaning things, and cartridges. 

Position. — The position for shooting which I am 
now going to describe, is the one in which I shoot 
and the one which I have found from experience 
suits me best. This position, however, will have to 
be modified according to the build of the shooter; a 
stouter or shorter-necked man than myself might 
have to stand more sideways. 

Stand facing the target ; the right foot pointing 
straight for the target, or perhaps a shade to the 
left (if the ground is slippery, this gives you a firmer 
foothold) ; the left heel distant from six to nine 



Learning to Use the Revolver 27 

inches to the left of the right foot, according to 
your height (my distance is eight inches), and about 
an inch farther back; the feet turned out about as 
much as is natural to you when standing. 

Stand perfectly upright, not craning your head 
forward ; the left arm should hang down straight 
and close to the side in the position of "Attention." 
Some people bend the left arm and rest the hand 
on the hip; but I think this looks affected, and it is 
not as workmanlike as if the arm hangs straight 
down. 

If you are trying to "hold" an especially import- 
ant shot, and find yourself wobbling off your aim, it 
is a great help to grip your thigh hard with your 
left hand; this especially applies in a gusty wind. 

Now lift the revolver with your right hand (the 
weapon is empty, remember) and cock it. There 
are two ways of cocking: one using both hands and 
one using only the shooting hand. I do not refer 
to the double-action cocking by pulling back the 
trigger, as I do not think shooting with any accur- 
acy can be done by this method ; and it is, more- 
over, the cause of half the accidents happening with 
the "I-did-not-know-it-was-loaded" shooters. The 
cocking by the trigger is only useful in a revolver 
for self-defence at very close quarters. 

To return, this single-handed cocking is done by 
putting the thumb on the hammer and by the action 
of the thumb muscles alone bring it to full-cock. 



28 



Revolver Shooting 



Take particular care that the first finger is clear of 
the trigger, or else you will either break or injure 
the sear notch, or have an accidental "let-off." 




How to Cock a Revolver 



With practice, this way of cocking becomes very 
easy, and can be done with great rapidity. I per- 
sonally can also let the pistol down to half-cock 
(manipulating the revolver with one hand, with the 
trigger finger and thumb); but I would not advise a 
beginner to try this, except with an empty revolver, 
and even then only one that he does not mind the 



Learning to Use the Revolver 29 

chance of spoiling, as he is very apt to break the 
nose of the sear if he bungles it. 

By practice, the thumb and forefinger muscles 
{abductor pollicis and adductor indicts) develop enor- 
mously, and you need not mind if at first it seems 
difficult; but stop at first as soon as they feel tired, 
or you may strain them. Revolver-shooting is 
good also for the flexors of the forearm and for the 
dorsal muscles. A small hammer with short "fall" 
is easiest to cock, as well as to make good shooting 
with, for such a hammer takes less time in falling, 
and the aim is, in consequence, less likely to be 
disturbed. 

The beginner will find that it assists the cocking 
to give the revolver a slight tilt to the right and 
upwards, taking great care to bring it back with 
the hind sights horizontal afterwards, as holding the 
sight stilted is one of the chief causes of bad shooting. 

For double-handed cocking, assist the right hand 
by taking the revolver behind the chambers with the 
left hand, so as not to get burnt if it should go off 
by accident ; keep the barrel horizontal and pointed 
at the target, not towards your left-hand neighbour 
(if you are competing), as is often done; and, while 
it is thus steadied, cock the revolver gently, not 
with a jerk, bringing the hammer well beyond full- 
cock, so that it sinks back into the bent with a well- 
defined click, keeping the first finger clear of the 
trigger. 



30 



Revolver Shooting 



Now, stand with the revolver in your right hand, 
just clear of the table ; right arm full stretch ; thumb 
stretched out along the revolver (see illustration), 
but the first finger must be outside the trigger-guard 
(not touching the trigger) during this stage. 

Some men shoot with the second finger on the 




The Correct Way to Hold a Revolver 

trigger and the first along the revolver; but this is 
a clumsy way, and the first finger is apt to be burnt 
with the escape of gas from the cylinder. The 
habit was acquired from shooting the Martini rifle, 
the clumsy "grip" of which made this manner of 
holding necessary. 

The great thing is to have your grip as high as you 
can on the stock, in line with the axis of the barrel, 
or as near this as is practicable. With the Smith & 



Learning to Use the Revolver 31 

Wesson Russian Model I have it, as shown in the 

diagrams, actually in line with the bore of the barrel. 

Some American revolvers for the British market 

often have specially long, big handles, or stocks, 




The Correct Position of the Thumb 



because of the habit (or is it the Regulation Posi- 
tion?) of holding the stock low down with the little 
finger beneath, prevalent in England. Now this 
sort of position makes the recoil come at an angle to 
the wrist, throws the barrel up at the recoil, spoiling 
the accuracy, and puts more strain on the wrist than 
is necessary. I remember a very strong-wristed man 
firing one of my heavily charged fifty-yards revol- 
vers and spraining his wrist at the first shot, owing 
to holding it in this way; whilst I have fired 



32 Revolver Shooting 

hundreds of rapid-firing shots straight on end with it 
without hurting myself. I take the recoil just as a 
man catches a hard-thrown ball, letting arm, hand, 
and wrist fly up together. 

The revolver barrel, hand, and arm should all be 
nearly in one line, the thumb along the left side, so 
as to prevent jerking to the left in pressing the 
trigger (in the same way as the left arm is fully 
extended in shooting with the shotgun), and not 
crooked, as all beginners insist on holding it. 

You must be constantly on the watch that you do 
not crook your thumb, until the extended position 
becomes second nature to you. Some makes of re- 
volvers have the extractor lever in a position which 
renders this grip with extended thumb impossible. 

For the benefit of beginners who are not target 
rifle-shots, the following explanation may be necesr 
sary : The target, for the convenience of locating 
shot-holes, is supposed to represent the face of a 
clock. The top of the bull's-eye (which we term 
"bull" for brevity) is called XII o'clock, as that is, 
of course, where the numeral XII appears on a clock 
face, and so on for all the other numerals: half-past 
four, for instance, is half-way between where the 
numerals IV and V appear on a clock. I was once 
shooting in the presence of a German naval officer, 
and when I made a '/half-past five" "bull" shot he 
said, "South-east," his professional instinct making 
him liken the target to the face of a compass. 



Learning to Use the Revolver 33 

First take a deep breath, and fill your lungs. 
Now slowly bring your right arm to the horizontal, 
keeping your eyes fixed on the bottom edge, — at 
"six o'clock" of the "bull"; whilst you are doing 
this, put your forefinger inside the trigger-guard, 
and gradually begin to feel the trigger and steadily 
increase the pressure on it straiglit back, not side- 
ways. Whilst you are doing all this, also gradually 
stiffen all your muscles so that you are braced up, 
especially about the right shoulder, as though you 
were walking along the pavement and saw a man 
coming towards you whom you meant to shoulder 
out of your path. 

You may breathe naturally until the revolver is 
levelled, then hold your breath; if you cannot get 
your aim satisfactorily before you feel you want to 
take a fresh breath, lower the pistol, take a deep 
breath, and try again. If you have followed these 
directions carefully, you will find, when the hind 
sight comes to the level of your eyes (closing your 
left eye or not, as you find best, without any move- 
ment of the head), the front sight wili be seen 
through the middle of the "U" pointed at the bot- 
tom of the bull's-eye, the top of the front sight just 
touching it at "six o'clock." If everything has 
been done perfectly, at the moment this occurs the 
pressure on the trigger will have been increased suffi- 
ciently to cause the hammer to fall, and, after it 
has fallen, you will see the top of the front sight 



34 Revolver Shooting 

still just touching the bull's-eye at its bottom 
edge. 

If the revolver had been loaded (assuming, of 
course, that it was an accurate-shooting one and 
properly sighted), you would have had a central 
bull's-eye for your shot. Most likely, however, 
you will find that the revolver came up all of a 
tremble, and that, as the hammer fell, the front 
sight was jerked very wide of the "bull" and per- 
haps even hidden by the hind sight. 

Do not be discouraged, but cock the revolver and 
try again. By the way, it is best to have a 
"dummy" cartridge or an exploded one in each 
chamber whilst doing this "snapping" practice, as 
otherwise the jar may do damage to the revolver 
and perhaps break the mainspring. There are 
dummy cartridges, made with a rubber "buffer," 
for this practice. 

If you still find your hand shaky (and it is not 
naturally so), it most probably arises from your 
gripping too hard. 

The action of "letting off" should be like squeez- 
ing an orange — a squeeze of the whole hand. Start 
with a light grip when your hand is down, and 
gradually squeeze as you come up, the trigger-finger 
squeezing back; and the hammer will fall without 
the least tremor or without the sights moving off 
the point they covered during the fall of the hammer. 
The main thing of all in revolver-shooting is to 



Learning to Use the Revolver 35 

squeeze straight back. Whenever you find yourself 
shooting badly see if you are not " pulling off to one 
side " ; and in nine cases out of ten you will discover 
that this was the cause of your bad shooting. 

Some men can never squeeze the trigger straight 
back, and have to allow for this by getting the hind 
sight "set over" to one side to correct it; but this 
is a slovenly way of shooting, and, as the pull to 
one side may vary according to the " jumpiness" of 
the shooter, it prevents his being a really first-class 
shot. 

Keep the hind sight perfectly horizontal; begin- 
ners are prone to cant it on one side, which puts 
the bullet to the side towards which you cant. 

After a little practice, you will be able to "call" 
your shots, that is to say, you will be able, the mo- 
ment the cartridge explodes, to say where the shot 
has struck the target, as you know where the sights 
were pointed at the "squeeze-off/' 

After six shots, make a pencil-cross over each 
bullet-hole, so as to know where your former shots 
hit. After twelve hits it is best to take a fresh 
target. At the end of the day's shooting, you can 
cover the holes by pasting black patches on the 
bull's-eye holes and white on the rest, and use the 
target again. 

I will now say why I insist upon the importance 
of a table being before the shooter. The usual pro- 
cedure for a beginner with the revolver is this: He 



36 Revolver Shooting 

cocks the revolver with both hands, pointing it at 
the spectators on his left whilst doing so; he then 
holds it with his right arm close to his side, pointing 
it to the ground at his right foot. He then brings 
it up with a flourish, high above his head, and 
lowers it to the target, jerks the trigger, and "looses 
off." Of course he does not hit the target, but 
makes a very wild shot. After a few more shots on 
this principle, getting more and more wild, and 
making bigger flourishes with his revolver, he finally 
lets it off by accident whilst his arm is hanging by 
his side; and he is lucky if he does not make a hole 
in his right foot. 

I remember once a man telling me (he professed 
to be an expert with the revolver) that I was wrong 
in keeping my revolver pointed in front of me to- 
wards the target when preparing to shoot. 'You 
ought to hold it like this," he said, letting his right 
arm hang close to his side and keeping the revolver 
pointing downwards; "then it is quite safe." At 
that moment it went off and blew a big hole in the 
ground within an inch of his foot ! 

By my system of having a table in front of the 
shooter, close to which he stands, and from which 
he lifts the revolver, he cannot shoot down into his 
feet. But he must never turn round or leave the 
table without first unloading the revolver and placing 
it on the table; nor, on any account, must he let 
any one go up to the target or be in front or even 



Learning to Use the Revolver 37 

get level with him whilst the revolver is in his 
hand. 

Now, as to the trick of lifting the revolver above 
one's head before firing: I cannot understand why 
people want to do this. It only frightens specta- 
tors; besides, the shooter is running the risk of 
shooting himself through the head ; and in competi- 
tions or in self-defence time is too valuable to waste 
in such antics. 

When you are pretty confident that you can keep 
your sights properly aligned at the bottom edge of 
the ''bull " while the hammer is falling, you can try 
a few shots with a loaded revolver. It is best to load 
only some of the chambers, irregularly spin the 
cylinder round, after the revolver is closed and at 
half-cock, so as not to know which chambers are 
loaded, and every time you find you jerk off with a 
shot, return to the snapping-empty-cartridge prac- 
tice. This latter is good practice, even when you 
become a skilled shot ; and I often have a few 
minutes of snapping practice in my room. 

Place the box of cartridges beside, and to the 
right of, the revolver. Use only a very small charge 
(gallery ammunition for choice) at first, as nothing 
puts a beginner off so much as the fear of recoil. 
Stand behind the table, the revolver being between 
you and the target, and take the revolver by its stock 
in the right hand. Do not turn the muzzle to the 
left, but straight out towards the target. Put it in 



38 Revolver Shooting 

your left hand and load it. This procedure varies 
with different makes; with the Smith & Wesson, 
Russian, and Winans models, you lift the catch with 
your left thumb and press the barrel down with the 
same hand till it (the barrel) is perpendicular, point- 
ing to the ground. But whatever the mechanism, 
when the revolver is open for loading, the barrel 
should be pointing downwards, yet in line for the 
target. 

If a cartridge projects too much, remove it, as it 
is dangerous and may explode prematurely from 
friction against the breech of the revolver. In load- 
ing, of course have the revolver at half-, not full- 
cock. Close the revolver by elevating the breech 
with the right hand, not by raising the barrel with, 
the left, as in the latter case the cartridges may drop 
out. This rule applies also to the hand ejecting re- 
volvers. See that the snap, or other fastening, is 
properly closed. If your shot goes wide of the bull, 
be sure, before you alter your aim for the next shot, 
whether it is not your "squeeze-off " which is wrong. 

A practised shot can correct the shooting of his 
revolver by "aiming off " enough to rectify any error 
in sights. But the beginner had better not attempt 
this: he will find enough to do in trying to hold 
straight under the bull. 

Do not mind if your score does not "count "much; 
those who do not understand revolver-shooting 
judge the goodness of a score by how much it 



Learning to Use the Revolver 39 

counts, or by how many shots are in or near the 
bull's-eye. In reality, it is the group which con- 
stitutes a good score. One score may consist of the 
highest possible, — forty-two points (all six shots 
bull's-eyes), — and another may only count twelve 
points; and yet the latter may be far the better 
"shoot." 

I will explain : In the first case, the shots may be 
"all over" the bull, "nicking" the edges; they 
would require, therefore, a circle of more than four 
inches (on the target you are at present shooting at) 
to cover them. The other score may consist of all 
six bullet-holes cutting into each other at an extreme 
edge of the target, but making a group which could 
be covered with a postage-stamp. The first ' ' shoot" 
is a wild, bad score for ten yards' range at a four- 
inch bull, although it counts the highest possible in 
conventional scoring. The other is a magnificent 
shoot, that any one might be proud of; the fact of 
its being up in the corner merely showing that the 
sights were wrong, not the shooter's "holding. " A 
few touches of the file, or knocking over the hind 
sight, will put this error right. Never mind, there- 
fore, about scoring many points; merely shoot for 
%roup. Yoa will gradually find your groups getting 
smaller and smaller as you improve ; it is then 
merely a matter of filing to get good scoring. 

As your four-inch bull's-eye is too large for real 
shooting at ten yards, you must remember that the 



s 



4° Revolver Shooting 

sighting of the revolver should put the bullets one 
inch only into this size bull at "VI o'clock," not 
into the middle of it. The reason is that, prac- 
tically, the trajectory of a revolver is the same at 
twenty as at ten yards ; and as the English regula- 
tion bull at twenty yards is two inches, you want 
the twenty-yards sighted revolver to put the shots 
into the centre of the two-inch bull when you aim 
at the bottom edge. In other words, you want it 
to shoot an inch higher than your aim at that dis- 
tance. Therefore, if with your four-inch bull, aim- 
ing at the bottom edge, you go into the bull one 
inch up, it means a central bull s-eye shot on a two- 
inch bull. The reason I recommend aiming at the 
bottom of the bull's-eye instead of at the middle of 
it is that if you try to put a black bead in the middle 
of a black bull's-eye, you cannot see either properly ; 
if you whiten the bead of the fore sight, then you 
cannot see it clearly against the white of the target 
in "coming up" to the bull. Nobody can hold ab- 
solutely steady on the "bull" for more than a fraction 
of a second; you have to "come up" from below 
and "squeeze off" as you get your sights aligned. 

It is best to have your cleaning appliances on the 
table, or otherwise handy, when shooting, and every 
now and again to have a look through the barrel and 
a wipe-out; you might otherwise be inclined to at- 
tribute to bad shooting what may be caused by 
leading or hard fouling in the barrel. I have a little 



Learning to Use the Revolver 4 1 

cupboard under my table with a lock and key, in 
which I keep my cleaning apparatus, cartridges, 
etc. (but not the revolver), to save the trouble of 
carrying them to the range. 

Always clean a revolver as soon after shooting as 
possible, and clean very thoroughly. 

A revolver first shows signs of wear at the breech 
end of the barrel; it looks there as though rats had 
been gnawing it. At first, I have a fancy that this 
makes the revolver shoot "sweeter," but when this 
gets too bad, it affects its accuracy for target work. 
For real work, I prefer a revolver when it is half 
worn out, as everything then works smoothly and 
there is less danger of jambing. Rust in the rifling 
may entirely spoil accuracy, as, if you work it off, 
the bore gets enlarged and the bullets "strip." I 
never like to compete with a perfectly new revolver; 
all revolvers have their peculiarities, and it is neces- 
sary to get used to one, to "break it in," before 
trusting it to obey one's slightest hint. 

It is sometimes useful to be able to shoot with the 
left hand ; as, for instance, if the right hand is dis- 
abled, the right arm held, etc., and for an officer 
with a sword in his right hand. If the novice has 
resolution enough to divide his practising, /><?/// the 
beginning, between both hands, he will be able to 
shoot nearly as well with his "left" hand as with his 
right. I have put quotation marks round "left" as 
I mean by this the hand not usually employed; a 



42 Revolver Shooting 

left-handed man's right hand being in this sense his 
"left." 

I have also noticed that a left-handed man can 
shoot more evenly with both hands; that is to say, 
he is not much better or worse with either hand, 
not being so helpless with his right hand as a nor- 
mally handed man is with his left. In all the 
directions for shooting, for left-handed work merely 
change "right leg" to "left leg"; "right arm" to 
"left arm," etc. 



CHAPTER V 

GALLERY SHOOTING 

A PRIVATE gallery can easily be fitted up in 
the cellars of large country, or even town, 
] houses. All that is needed is a gallery of a certain 
i length— ten yards will suffice at a pinch, but mine is 
i thirty-three yards, with the targets and butt (such 
as I describe in the chapter on Stage Shooting) at 
] one end. The targets should be lighted from above, 
' preferably by a skylight in the daytime, and by gas, 
lamp, or electric light at night. When artificial 
light is used, it should be screened, so that from the 
firing-point the targets are distinct, but the source 
i of light invisible. At the firing-point it is difficult 
to get a satisfactory light. If this gallery is not 
made in a greenhouse, which, of course, would give 
ample light to sight by in the day, I think there is 
no use in trying to get the light to shine on your 
sights. If it is behind you, you stand in your own 
light. If enough above you to prevent this, the 
light only shines on the top edges of your sights, 
and is thus worse than useless. I find it best to 
have enough light behind you to enable you to load 

43 



44 Revolver Shooting 

by, etc., and to trust to seeing the sights in a black 
silhouette against the target. You may, for this 
reason, have to alter your sights from the elevation 
which suits you out-of-doors. 

You should have a ventilating shaft straight above 
the muzzle of your revolver, and, if possible, a fan 
to draw off the fumes and smoke; one worked by 
electricity or water-power is best. 

It is expedient to use only the lightest gallery 
ammunition, and it deadens the sound if you have 
the walls covered with some sort of material hung 
loosely. Boiler-felt is very good for the purpose. 
Also, if you shoot through a hole in a partition 
screen, it helps to deaden the sound. 

I prefer a big-calibre revolver, as it gives a better 
chance to score; a shot which would be just out of 
the bull with a small bullet, may just cut the bull 
with a large ball. The bullet-hole is also more easily 
seen, but the bullet must be as light as possible, or 
you will have to use too heavy a charge of powder 
to propel it. 

The self-registering targets, such as are used for 
miniature .22 calibre rifles, I do not find very satis- 
factory, those, at least, that I have tried; the larger 
size of the revolver bullet makes it liable to strike 
two compartments at the same time, giving you a 
double score, and the impact of the bullet is, more- 
over, too heavy for the mechanism. I prefer card 
targets. 



Gallery Shooting 45 

On no account have targets that necessitate any 
one's going down the range, or coming out from a 
mantlet, to change. There is sure to be an accident 
sooner or later. Have them made to draw up to 
the firing-point for examination and change, and 
never let any one turn round with a revolver in his 
hand. In fact, observe all the rules as to table to 
fire from, etc., which I give in the chapter on Learn- 
ing to Use the Revolver. All these rules apply 
equally to gallery shooting. 

As the gallery is generally narrow, it will be diffi- 
cult to have traversing targets, but you can have 
most of the other Bisley targets. 

Such a gallery will be an endless source of amuse- 
ment in the winter evenings, after dinner; and the 
ladies can shoot as well as the men. 

It is advisable to handicap the good shots, so as 
to give all an equal chance. 

Gallery shooting is by far the most scientific style 
of revolver-shooting, if you use a very light load, 
fine sights, and hair trigger; therefore you can have 
smaller bull's-eyes and subdivisions than the Bisley 
ones. The American and French targets are better 
subdivided for this purpose. Messrs. D. La Rue 
make me special ''ace of hearts" packs of cards for 
use as targets. For experimental work also, a gal- 
lery is much more reliable than shooting out-of- 
doors. 

When shooting gallery ammunition in which the 



46 Revolver Shooting 

bullets are "seated" low down, look into the car- 
tridges before putting them into the chambers, as a 
bullet may have worked itself up, which would 
cause a weak, low shot. Push the bullet down with 
a loading rod, or pencil, before you insert the car- 
tridge into the chamber, if you find it shifted. 
Also, if, after firing a few shots with this ammuni- 
tion, you, for any cause, stop and want to re-load 
the chambers which have been fired, it is as well to 
take out all the cartridges that have not been fired 
and examine them, as the jar of firing may have 
started some of the bullets. 



CHAPTER VI 

BISLEY 

Twenty- Yards Stationary Target {Known as ' ' The 
Short Range Series ") 

COMPETITIONS at Bisley are more numerous 
than at any other range. Pool shooting also 
takes place at this range. 

I have already described how to stand and shoot 
at a stationary target. There are a few points to be 
observed, however, which specially apply to this 
range when shooting at Bisley. Before competing 
at any one of the limited-entry competitions, it is 
well to be sure that you are shooting up to your 
proper form, as mistakes cannot be corrected after 
once commencing. 

Personally, I think it best (if shooting every day 
or most of the ten days) not to enter in a limited- 
entry competition till after the first two days of the 
meeting, as one gets steadied down by then and 
grows more accustomed to the surroundings. 

As sighting varies from day to day, and even from 
hour to hour, it may be as well to have a pool shoot 

47 



48 Revolver Shooting 

for sighting purposes first ; but I personally never 
do so, as I think it is a pity to chance wasting a 
good score in pool. The moment you have " found 
the spot," leave off pool; do not stop to finish a 
score. 

I prefer doing my sighting on an " unlimited, 
entry" competition ticket, so that in case I make a 
" highest possible," that score is not wasted. 

The early morning, from 9 till 11 A.M., is the best 
time for shooting; and then, perhaps, late in the 
evening. One should watch for a good time when 
the light is favourable; often the wind will drop late 
in the evening, half an hour before "gunfire," after 
blowing hard all day. 

There is often a good light after rain. Personally, 
I rather like shooting in the rain, and have made 
some of my best shots in it. The light is good ; 
there is then no glare on the target; and bullets 
make very big, ragged holes on a wet target ; and 
sometimes a shot which would not cut the bull on a 
dry target may do so on a wet one, owing to its 
making a larger hole. 1 The Webley "Man-stop- 
ping" bullets make very big, "clean" holes. 

If you have a target with a doubtful shot, that is 
to say, one for which you think you are entitled to 
a higher count than the range officer gives you, do 
not touch it, or thrust anything (your finger or a 

1 At Bisley a bullet must cut the bull to count ; at the clubs if it 
touches it scores a bull. 



Bisley 49 

pencil) into the hole to demonstrate that the shot 
cuts into the bull's-eye or the line you claim. If 

-you push anything into the hole you will spoil its 

'outline and destroy all evidence of the point at 
which the bullet had cut. In doubtful cases, the 
range officer puts a bullet of the same calibre (which 
has been pushed with a rod through a revolver bar- 
rel previously) into the hole, and examines it whilst 
in this position with a magnifying-glass. 

Accept the range officer's decision as final; never 
" protest" a decision of his. 

Look at the target through your glass and see that 

J it has no bullet-holes in it before you begin to shoot ; 
and refuse to shoot at a patched target, except at 

I pool. A patch may fall off a shot made by a pre- 
vious competitor and confuse your score, besides 

; making the target indistinct and throwing doubt on 
a record score by you if you should happen to make 
one on such a target. Also see that the bull's-eye 
is black; some are badly printed, and the "bull" 
is grey and indistinct. 

Shoot very slowly and deliberately. There is no 
hurry. The time limit of two minutes would be 

\ ample within which to fire twenty-four shots — and 
you have only to fire six. 

If you are dissatisfied with your aim, or your arm 
is getting tired, or a gust of wind comes, put the 
revolver down without firing. Look down on the 
grass to rest your eyes, and wipe your hands; a 



50 Revolver Shooting 

little sawdust is a good thing to rub them with on 
hot days. 

When it is gusty, putting up the revolver just as 
you think a lull is coming, instead of waiting for 
the lull, gives you a better chance of being " up' ' 
when the lull does come, and you can then "snap" 
the shot before the next gust. 

If you have to shoot in a very high wind- — as in a 
match, or in shooting off a tie — it is best to "snap" 
your shots (see chapter on Rapid-Firing Series) and 
not try to hold against the wind. 

If a shot strikes a little too high, or too low, or 
too much to either side, aim "off" the "bull" the 
next shot to correct it. 

Do not keep altering the amount you see of your 
front sight if you hit too high or too low; you will 
never make a good score in that way. If you are 
out half an inch at " X o'clock," aim your next shot 
at half an inch off "V o'clock" ; if you hit half an 
inch above the bull at "XII o'clock," aim half an 
inch below "VI o'clock" with your next shot; do 
not take a "coarser" sight. This is where a practi- 
cal shot has the advantage over a mere "target shot." 

If a shot is in the "bull" (I will assume you can 
easily see shots in, or partly in, the "white" at 
twenty yards; I can see them at fifty), and you are 
not sure of its exact locality, examine it with your 
glass. 

If you are "holding" exceptionally steady, and 



Bisley 



5i 



have shot well into the "bull," though not actually 
central, do not aim differently to try to get the 
actual centre with the next shot ; as a rule, if you 
are anything more than half in the ' ' bull, ' ' it is better 
to let well alone and "hold" the same as before. I 
remember on one occasion I had five shots in one 
ragged hole at "V o'clock" in the "bull" on the slid- 
ing target ; and for fear lest I should put my last shot 
through the same hole and have it counted as a 
miss, I tried to hit the "bull" at "IX o'clock" 
clear of that hole, and got just out of the bull. 

If you have several bullets in one ragged hole, it 
is advisable, if there be time, to draw the range offi- 
cer's attention to this before you fire the next shot, 
so that in case you go into the same hole or group 
again, he may record it and not think it a miss. If 
he watches the target whilst you shoot, through his 
glasses, he will see where your bullet goes, even if 
you do go into this group. 

At the stationary targets, and at those only, it is 
advisable to use both hands in cocking. In cock- 
ing, if there is not a distinct click, or if the action 
feels "woolly" or soft, put it back at half-cock, and 
open the revolver and see what is the matter. 
Most likely a bit of fouling, or piece of metal from 
a cartridge or bullet, or a cartridge with too thick a 
head or protruding cap, is the cause. 

When the revolver is at full-cock, take the cylin- 
der between the forefinger and thumb of the left 



52 Revolver Shooting 

hand, still holding the stock in the right hand and 
keeping the muzzle towards the target, and gently 
try to revolve the cylinder towards the right. This, 
at least, is the normal direction, though some makes 
revolve to the left. You will, perhaps, once in a 
dozen times, find that it goes over an appreciable 
amount till it locks. 

Any revolver, even the best, may sometimes not 
bring the cylinder round quite true to the barrel; 
and if it does not coincide, the shot will not be ac- 
curate, owing to the bullet not going into the barrel 
true, and thus getting a small shaving taken off its 
side. A bit of fouling, metal from cartridges or 
bullet, " proud cap," or thick cartridge-head may 
cause this. By attending to the cocking in the elabor- 
ate way I have indicated, this cause of inaccuracy is 
avoided. (This is very important in cases where a 
miss would be dangerous: as when shooting objects 
off some one's head, or those which are held in the 
hand or mouth, or for the last shot on which every 
thing depends in a match or a record score.) Also, 
every time you open the revolver, look to see whether 
the caps have been hit absolutely true in the centre. 

By my way of cocking, even if the revolver is not 
acting quite perfectly, the chambers ought to come 
true. If they do not, clean them very carefully. 
If, in spite of this, the caps are still hit on the side, 
it is useless to continue with that revolver until the 
maker has put it right. 



Bisley 53 

Shoot with the smallest charge, lightest bullet, 
and largest calibre the rules allow, as it is easier to 
shoot with a small than with a "kicking" charge, 
and the bullet of larger calibre is more apt to cut 
into the bull. (This applies to all competitions at 
ranges not over twenty yards; beyond that dis- 
tance, a big charge is more accurate. See chapter 
on Fifty- Yards Target.) 

Smokeless powder will, of course, be the powder 
of the future; but I have not yet got such accuracy 
out of any smokeless, except the French, as I have 
with black. They give more "unaccountables. " 
But for rapid firing, smokelessness and less recoil 
more than counterbalance the comparative want of 
regularity, even with the other makes. 

I do not like too small a front sight. I think that 
one which, in aiming, looks about a quarter the 
diameter of the bull is best. The semicircular "U" 
of the hind sight should be wide enough to enable 
you to see all round the bead of the front sight. 

In revolver shooting, the chief difficulty is in 
"holding" and "squeezing off" without disturbing 
your aim. There is no need to strain your eyes 
with a microscopic front sight when shooting at so 
large a bull as two inches at twenty yards. 

Another fault of too fine a front sight is that it is 
liable to get bent, just enough to spoil your aim, 
yet not enough to be noticeable until too late. If 
you try to straighten it, the odds are that you break 



54 Revolver Shooting 

it off and then have to waste a day or more getting 
another fixed, which, most likely, does not suit 
when done. 

I always have my Bisley sights made solid with 
the revolver, without any screws, and have some 
made to shoot higher, others lower, each on a sepa- 
rate revolver. If I find that the light, or my shoot- 
ing, does not suit one sort of sight, I take another 
revolver. I have some fifteen revolvers prepared in 
this way. 

The permission to have a hind sight adjustable by 
being hammered to one side is worse than useless. 
The sight works loose, gets knocked askew, and 
when you begin shooting you find it is constantly 
shifting and spoiling your shooting. I do not call it 
by any means a practical military sight. If you can 
only manage one revolver for Bisley, have it with 
my front sight, sighted to your normal or average 
shooting, at twenty or fifty yards, to whichever you 
decide to confine yourself, and both back and front 
sights made fixtures. 

Wear nailed boots, or those with corrugated rub- 
ber soles, so as not to slip. The rubber, however, 
is rather -apt to get cut in standing on spent car- 
tridges. A broad-brimmed cowboy hat, or som- 
brero, is the best headgear, except in a wind, as it 
keeps the glare off your eyes. I took to using 
these years ago, and now I see them in use by 
nearly all ^hQQting men, as well as in the English 



Bisley 55 

army, though (unlike in the U. S. army) often ren- 
dered less serviceable by having the brim looped up 
on one side. I keep some of various widths of 
brim, and use the one most suitable for the occa- 
sion. Also a Swedish leather jacket is very good 
when it gets chilly, as it is very light and does not 
hamper your right arm as a heavier coat would do. 
If you do not possess one, an extra waistcoat will 
serve, as this will leave your arm free. An overcoat 
J or mackintosh hampers your right arm. You are 
freer in a flannel shirt with turn-down collar, loose 

1 round the wrists, and no braces. A silk handker- 
chief tied loosely round the neck, cowboy fashion, 
keeps the sun off the nape of your neck. 



CHAPTER VII 

BISLEY 
{Continued} 

Disappearing Target {Known as " The Bobber ") 

THIS target, which has the two-inch bull's-eye, 
like the twenty-yards stationary target, ap- 
pears and disappears at intervals of three seconds 
— three seconds in sight and three seconds invisible 
— and is shot at from a distance of twenty yards. 

The rules forbid the revolver being raised from the 
firing-table before the target appears; and it must 
be lowered to the table after each shot. 

Shooting in this competition is the groundwork of 
all the competitions other than at stationary targets; 
so I shall go very fully into the way of becoming 
proficient at this, as the other competitions should 
then come comparatively easy. 

In order to do the best possible work, you ought 
for practice to have an exact copy of the disappear- 
ing mechanism used at Bisley ; and also (and this is 
very important), the range should orientate as at 
Bisley and should have the background of the same 
colour. 

56 



Bisley 



57 



At Bisley, at one time in the afternoon the shoot- 
ing is against the setting sun ; at which time the 
wise shot takes a rest and lets others waste their 
entries, as it is impossible to make good shooting 
under these circumstances. By having the points 
of the compass the same as at Bisley, you will soon 
find out which sort of light suits you best, and at 
what hour of the day it comes. Personally, I find 
the light from 9 to about 11 A.M. (during which 
time it is more or less over one's left shoulder) the 
best for shooting in July. As the sun comes round, 
you will find that the point to aim at varies gradu- 
ally as the light strikes the front sight more or less 
on the side. 

As the sights may not, by the rules, be moved 
laterally, it is as well to have several revolvers for 
each competition, with the sights set to make the 
revolver shoot more or less to the right or left ; and 
also some sighted lower than others, to use as the 
light varies. 

Variations in elevation, owing to varying intensi- 
ties of sunlight, can also be remedied by having 
several pairs of spectacles with plain glass (unless, 
of course, you need optical glasses to see clearly 
with), of different tints of smoke colour. You can 
then, when you find a certain strength of light best 
for your shooting, keep to this strength artificially, 
whatever the real light may be, putting on glasses 
of a shade sufficient to modify the light as required. 



58 Revolver Shooting 

The glasses should have round, and not oval, frames, 
and these should be a good two inches in diameter, 
so that the rims do not interfere with your view. 
Large round goggles, with plain window-glass, are a 
great protection against particles of burnt powder, 
especially in a head wind ; and after a hard morning's 
shooting, the surface of the glass will be found 
covered with adhesive black spots. It is as well to 
have one pair of plain white glass (i. e., ordinary 
window-glass), and to wear either these or one of 
the smoked pairs whenever shooting, or even look- 
ing on at shooting, as the powder blowing back con- 
stantly into the eyes irritates them ; and a sudden 
dab in the eye may even spoil a score by making 
one flinch at a critical moment. I have known a 
man incapacitated from shooting for several days 
through getting his eyes inflamed from particles of 
powder and smoke blowing in his face in a head 
wind, and from the irritating fumes of the nitro- 
powders; and the look of many competitors' eyes 
towards the end of the shooting shows how it affects 
them. A solution of boracic acid and rosewater (of 
course you must get a chemist to dispense the right 
quantities) is a very good thing to bathe the eyes 
with during and after a hard day's shooting, and it 
makes the eyes feel very comfortable the next day. 
Also, it is important to protect the ear-drums 
from the constant banging, else you get your ears 
"singing" and finally become more or less deaf. A 



Bisley 59 

revolver is worse than a rifle or gun in this respect, 
owing to the shortness of the barrel and the conse- 
quent proximity of the concussion to the ear. The 
left ear is more apt to suffer than the right, which is 
more sheltered by the arm, and a neighbour's shot, 
for which the ear is unprepared, affects it more than 
one's own. This is particularly noticeable if your 
neighbour stands slightly behind you. Some use 
cotton-wool in the ears. I find it apt to mix with 
the natural wax in the ears, a small amount of the 
cotton wool remaining behind each time the wool is 
removed; and, what is more, it does not sufficiently 
deaden the sound. For practising in private, a pair 
of small down pillows tied over the ears deaden the 
sound best, but these cannot be worn in public. 
Messrs. Lynch, chemists, of Aldersgate Street, 
London, make a very good sound-deadener which I 
always use when shooting. It consists of a hollow 
rubber flesh-coloured plug, filled with sawdust. 
This reduces the sound of a revolver-shot to a slight 
thump, like the blow of a fist on a table, and is 
practically invisible when worn, much less conspicu- 
ous, at any rate, than white cotton-wool. It will 
also prevent your neighbour's shooting disturbing 
you. Men whose ears are very sensitive should take 
some precaution against cold when these sound- 
deadeners are removed. The concussion of re- 
volvers, bad at all times, is of course aggravated by 
the use of the heavy military ammunition obligatory 



60 Revolver Shooting 

at Bisley, as well as by the deafening echoes from the 
wood partition of the stall in which competitors have 
to shoot. It is said that keeping the mouth open 
moderates the concussion, but the remedy is surely 
worse than the disease. 

If you cannot get a copy of the Bisley disappear- 
ing-target mechanism, the next best thing is to have 
the target hinge over and be brought up again by 
some mechanical means. If this is not practicable, 
a stationary target may be made to answer, as I 
shall presently show. 

My reason for wanting the actual Bisley arrange- 
ment is because that comes up with a jerk (some of 
the men operating it are very jerky), and the target 
4 ' wobbles* ' for a fraction of a second, both just as it 
gets upright and just before it disappears, and this 
is apt to disconcert any one not used to it. 

Next, get a metronome, with bell attachment. 
Set it to beat half-seconds (be very particular to get 
the time absolutely correct), and set the bell to ring 
at every sixth beat. You have now intervals of 
three seconds marked with a "ring" at the end of 
each. Count the beats to yourself when the metro- 
nome is working: "One, two, three, four, five, six" ; 
"one, two, three," etc. 

Get your man to work the lever which actuates 
the target (the lever in every case being a yard or 
two behind you, so that there is no danger of shoot- 
ing the man or of burning his eyes with the side 



Bisley 



61 



flash from the chambers of the revolver). Let him, 
at the stroke of the bell, bring up the target sharply, 
so that it comes with a bang, and lower it at the 
next ring in the same way, and keep it down till the 
next ring, then jerk it up, and so on; jerking it as 
roughly as the mechanism will allow. 

If you have to practise on a stationary target, 
pretend to yourself that it disappears at each alter- 
nate ring of the metronome. The firing-point must 
be like the Bisley one; it will not do to stand with 
the revolver hanging at your side; it must rest on a 
ledge the same height as at Bisley, or else your 
practice will be useless for Bisley, as quite a differ- 
ent way of working the muscles and resting them 
between shots is in use in the two styles of shooting, 
and it takes less time to "come up" from a ledge 
than when the arm is hanging by the side. Owing 
to the slope of the ground at Bisley, some of the 
ledges are higher than others; choose the one that 
suits you best, and have your practice ledge that 
height ; and when shooting at Bisley, do so from 
the ledge you have previously chosen. 

Stand squarely, well behind this ledge. You will 
only get disqualified if you get into the way of rest- 
ing the lower part of your body against the ledge; 
or even if you stand close to it and your coat hap- 
pens to hang in front ; or if you happen to have a 
"corporation" some competitor may have you dis- 
qualified as resting against the ledge. 



62 Revolver Shooting 

The position of the legs and body is as for the 
twenty-yards stationary target, except that the rod 
which works the target is best kept between the 
feet, and these have to be a little wider apart. (N. 
B. If you are a short man, it is better to stand to 
one side of the rod.) 

Stretch your arm out its full length, and, holding 
the revolver with the sights uppermost, rest the 
lower side of the barrel lightly against the ledge. 
The part of the barrel adjacent to the chamber is the 
part to rest on the ledge, as it is less likely to slip. 
There is a notch between the barrel and lower part 
of the frame of the revolver, and when this is rest- 
ing on the edge of the table, and the arm is straight, 
then you are standing at the right distance from the 
table. 

If you have to stretch too much or to lean for- 
ward, move slightly closer until you are comfort- 
able; if your arm is bent, move backward till it 
comes straight. (All this is done with an empty 
revolver.) 

Now stand in this position, watching the target 
go up and down, and counting all the while, "one, 
two, three,' ' etc., to yourself, till you get the 
rhythm of the thing. Keep your eyes all the time 
fixed on the bull's-eye when it is vertical to you ; do 
not follow it down with your eyes, but keep a men- 
tal picture of it, while it is away, on the background. 
You will gradually be able to know exactly where it 



Bisley 



63 



will be, and when it will be there, and you will then 
be able to aim at the imaginary spot ; so that when 
the target appears the sights will not have to be 
shifted to the bull's-eye, but the bull's-eye will come 
to the sights. 

Now, cock the revolver, of course using only your 
right thumb, and not shifting your left hand, body, 

{4 or revolver in the slightest. 

(If you cannot do this neatly, cock the revolver 
first, and then "set" yourself at the ledge.) 

Now, at the word "one/' slowly (z. e., without 
hurry or jerk) bring your arm up, quite straight, till 
the revolver is level with your eye, and you are 

X looking through the sights. 

If you have been following the above directions 
carefully, you will find you are aiming at the bottom 
edge of the bull's-eye, without having had to shift 
your hand or to align the sights; the sights and also 
the target have, in fact, "come up" to your eye, 

i not your eye to them. The speed with which you 
raise your arm should bring the sights touching the 
bottom edge of the ' ' bull' ' at the word ' ' two" ; but 
it is better, at first, to be slower: as long as you get 
the sights touching the ' * bull" before it disappears, it 
will do— for the present. At the word ' ' six, ' ■ lower 
the revolver to the table, but keep your eyes on the 
imaginary spot at which the "bull" disappeared. 
Keep the revolver down while you count six, and 
then raise it as before. After a few minutes of this 



64 Revolver Shooting 



v 



1 



drill, begin to squeeze the trigger slightly while the 
revolver is resting against the ledge. With practice 
you will be able to regulate the squeeze so that it 
will require only half a pound more pressure to fire 
the revolver. Then as you lift the revolver, gradu- 
ally tighten the squeeze, and keep gradually tighten- 
ing it, never diminishing the pressure, but not 
increasing it if your aim is getting wrong, and begin- 
ning to increase it again as you correct your aim. 
If you are increasing the squeeze properly, you will 
find, just as your aim is perfect, and a fraction of time 
before the word ''six," the hammer will have fallen 
and you will not have jerked or moved off your aim. 
The instant the hammer has fallen, cock quietly 
with your right thumb, and lower your revolver to 
the table as before. In all cocking, I mean it to be 
understood that it must be done with one movement 
of the right thumb, the finger well clear of the trig- 
ger so as not to break or wear the sear-notch, and 
the left arm, left hand, and body not moved in any 
way, as already illustrated. After you have done 
this a few times, and have confidence, you may load 
several chambers of the revolver, having exploded, .<_ 
or empty, cartridges in the other chambers, so as 
not to injure the nose of the hammer or the main- 
spring. The cartridges, loaded and unloaded, 
should be put in in irregular order, and the barrel 
spun round, so that you do not know when you 
have a loaded one to fire. 



Bisley 65 

Now, go through the same drill as before; most 
likely, if the first cartridge is an empty one, you will 
be surprised to find you jerked it off instead of 
squeezing, owing to fear of the recoil; but if this is 
so, expecting your next shot to be also an empty 
cartridge, you will give a nice, smooth, gradual " let- 
off," with the result that you will get a "bull," or 
close to it. The following shot, in consequence of 
your being too eager, will almost certainly be a very 
wild one, most likely below the target. This is 
caused by jerking the trigger, which results in bob- 
bing the muzzle down. It is curious that, contrary 
to the usual idea that in firing quickly with the re- 
volver one is prone to "shoot over," the exact 
reverse is the case, and that snatching at the trigger 
generally gives a low left shot. I have my revolvers 
for rapid-firing competitions sighted to shoot higher 
than the others, to counteract this. 

After a little of this sort of practice, you can get 
to loading all the chambers. Now the great thing 
is "time. " Time and shoot like a machine. At 
Bisley one sees men fire one shot directly the target 
appears; the next too late— after the target has 
begun to go down ; and whenever a shot goes wide, 
they dance about, stamp, or swear, and shift their 
position constantly, half raise the pistol and lower it 
again, and more antics follow in the same fashion. 
A man who shoots in this style may as well go 
home, for all the prizes he will win. I never trouble 



66 Revolver Shooting 

to look at his target; seeing his "form" tells me 
what his target must look like. 

By your constant practice with the metronome, 
you ought to get the "time" so impressed on your 
mind that you could work the target at the proper 
intervals without any metronome to indicate the 
time. Your hand "comes up" simultaneously with 
the target; you fire just before it disappears (some 
of my highest possibles were made with the target 
just on the " wobble" of disappearing as I fired each 
shot); every instant must be utilised for the aim, 
and there must be no hurry or flurry. In fact, you 
become a "workman." 

Do not get into the trick of "coming up" too 
soon before the target appears. There is nothing 
to be gained by it, and you might be disqualified. 
If a shot goes wrong or there is a misfire (you are 
allowed another shot for a misfire), keep on just as 
though nothing had happened ; pay no attention to 
the number of shots you have fired in the score, or 
how many more have to ' ' go. ' ' I have often started 
to "come up" again for a shot, not knowing that 
my sixth had already "gone," so mechanical had 
my shooting become. 

In practice, never fire if you feel you are "off" the 
" bull " ; better * ' come down" with the target, without 
shooting, and fire the next time the target "comes 
up." In this way you will perhaps "come up" ten 
times for your six shots; but you will have good 



« 



Bisley 67 

shots for those that you have fired, and will be 
encouraged much more and get better practice than 
by firing a lot of wild shots, which, as you fired, 
you knew were badly aimed. 

At Bisley, I find this the easiest competition of 
any, more so, if there is no wind, than the stationary 
twenty-yards target, but one can only keep it up for 
a short time. One gradually gets into the swing of 
it, till one can " throw" each shot right into the 
"bull's "centre. This keeps up for a few entries; 
as one's arm tires, one begins to lose the absolute 
precision. It is then useless to continue shooting 
and it is time to take a rest. 

You need a large front sight and open "U," so as 
to get your aim quickly. My favourite revolver has 
very coarse sights, — a front sight which, in aiming, 
seems nearly as large as the "bull." 

I like the sun as much behind me as possible for 
this and any other quick-firing or moving-object 
competition, as you can then at once see the hit on 
the target and can correct it, if necessary, at the 
next shot. At a stationary target, this seeing the 
hit at once does not matter, as you have plenty of 
time to locate your shot with your telescope. 

In any competition in which unlimited entries are 
allowed, it is best to give up shooting an entry at 
your first bad shot and to start a fresh entry instead 
of shooting out the full six shots. Many men say, 
"It is better to keep on, as it is practice." In my 



68 Revolver Shooting 

V 

experience I find that every one has strings of bet- 
ter shots than his average, and these may commence 
at any time. If you have a three, for instance, as 
your second shot of a score, you may have four 
sevens to finish up with; then your next score may 
begin with two sevens and then a two. There are 
thus two scores spoilt, whereas, if you had retired 
at the shot counting three in your first score, and ± 
started another score, you would have had a string 
of six sevens in your second score, making a highest ... 
possible score of forty-two. I have so often seen 
this sort of thing happen to others (though I have i 
never allowed it to happen to myself) that I am sure 
it is false economy at Bisley, except in the limited- 
entry series, not to stop and begin afresh the moment 
you get a shot out of the bull. 

Another thing men do is to keep shooting pool 
to "get practice/' as they call it, till they shoot 
themselves out and make bad scores in competition. 
The place to practise is at home ; there is no economy l < 
in paying half-a-crown for every six shots at Bisley, 
when you can shoot as much as you like at home for 
nothing. The rapid-firing and fifty-yards competi- 
tions being more difficult, you may allow yourself 
one or two sixes in a score before beginning again; 
but stop at the first shot scoring less than six points. 

If possible, choose a time when there is no one 
shooting at the target next you ; as, even if you do 
not find yourself "letting loose" at the sound of his 



Bisley 69 

firing, — he, most likely, timing himself all wrong, — 
the smoke from his shots may drift across you, and 
spoil your view of the target. 

Do not shoot whilst a man is " arranging his 
things," or "bringing up his target" next you; it 
will distract your attention. 

Shoot one entry in each series of competitions, — 
disappearing, rapid-firing, etc., — and then take the 
competition in which you have done worst (com- 
paratively worst, should be said, as thirty-six in the 
rapid-firing is equal to forty-one at the stationary 
twenty-yards) and beat that score. The moment 
you have beaten that sufficiently for one of your 
scores in another series to be the worst, go at that 
one; and so keep pushing the worst along. This 
gives you a better aggregate than any other system, 
and prizes are given for aggregates. 

Be sure to look through your barrel after each 
entry, and wipe it out frequently, cleaning the 
cylinder, etc. Quick shooting, especially in hot, 
dry weather, cakes and leads the barrel and spoils 
accuracy. If the pistol sticks or grates, however 
slightly, it is apt to spoil one's "time"; and if a 
chamber, from dirt, etc., does not come quite round, 
it will entirely spoil that shot. At Bisley, you 
must not "wipe out" during the shots of an entry. 
Where, however, there is no rule against it, "wipe 
out" after every shot at stationary targets, and use 
only one of the chambers. When you open the 



70 Revolver Shooting 

revolver after each entry, look carefully to see if the 
caps were struck in the centre, especially if you have 
made a bad shot. Should they be hit on the side, 
clean the revolver ; if this still continues, take another. 
It is useless to keep on while this is happening. 

Be very careful to see that you are using your 
own ammunition, the proper sort for each particular 
revolver, and not taking some other that happens to 
be lying about. Also be very particular to have 
your revolver passed, the trigger-pull tested, and 
ammunition examined before shooting, by the 
official appointed for the purpose by the National 
Rifle Association, whose office is at the firing-point. 
This should be done every day, morning and after- 
noon, — as the trigger-pull may have altered, — so 
that there shall be no chance of disqualification after 
a good score is made. 

Although it is, as a rule, best to finish your shoot- 
ing at one class of competition, either moving or 
stationary, the change from one to the other gives a 
rest if you find yourself getting tired or discouraged. 
Moreover, as above explained, you secure a better 
"aggregate" by shifting from one series to another, 
though such changing would easily confuse a be- 
ginner. For the beginner, therefore, it may be as 
well to study one particular competition and com- 
pete in it only at Bisley the first year. This will 
probably place him high in the prize-list, and 
encourage further perseverance another year. 



CHAPTER VIII 

BISLEY 
(Continued} 

Rapid Firing 

Target Appears for Twelve Seconds at Twenty 
Yards, All Six Shots Must Be Fired During 
that Time. Known as * * The Rapid. 

RAPID firing, in my opinion, is the most practical 
of all competitions, for a revolver is not a 
weapon for deliberate shooting, but for lightning 
rapidity at short range. Some years ago, when 
several of us were drawing up schemes for revolver 
competitions at Bisley, I experimented with rapid 
firing, and found I could shoot, with accuracy 
enough for practical purposes, the six shots of a 
single-action revolver in from seven to ten seconds, 
at twenty yards. This was before the invention of 
automatic pistols and revolvers, with which weapons 
I can now do it in from five to seven seconds. 
Thinking that this might be too difficult for the 

71 



72 Revolver Shooting 

average competitor at Bisley, and might deter him 
from trying, I suggested twelve seconds as ample 
time to fire six shots with a fair amount of aim. 
This idea was adopted. As rapid firing is so im- 
portant for practical shooting, I give below a few 
useful hints for learning it. 

To begin with, it is necessary to get a revolver 
which works as loosely and as easily as possible. A 
half-worn-out revolver is best, as it works freer. 
Next, file the mainspring as weak as it is possible to 
have it without risk of too many misfires. If it has 
one misfire in every twenty shots, or so, it does 
not matter, the great thing being to have it cock 
easily. If the mainspring is weak enough, and an 
extra long thumb-piece is made to the hammer, one 
can put it almost to the full-cock with an upward 
flick of the revolver. I have never seen any good 
shooting done in this " rapid'' when cocking by 
"double action." A very big front sight and a big 
"U" in the back one are advisable. 

Stand as for disappearing target. 

It is impossible — at least I find it so to count the 
half-seconds up to twelve seconds. I count half- 
seconds in fours — "one, two, three, four" — for each 
shot; thus giving each of the six shots two seconds 
out of the twelve. 

As the target rises, "come up," as in the disap- 
pearing series, but more quickly, increasing the 
pressure on the trigger as you "come up," so that 



Bisley 73 

the revolver goes off the moment it is horizontal and 
the sights are about right. I say about, because 
there is not time to correct the aim. 

Your shot ought to go off before, or as soon as, 
you get to the word "two" ; but be sure to squeeze 
back — not jerk off. It is possible, with practice, to 
get this "snap shot" into the "bull" or touching it. 
As this first shot goes off, instantly flick the ham- 
mer up to full-cock with your thumb — the recoil will 
help you in this. Be especially careful to take all 
pressure off the trigger whilst doing so. Unless 
you are very careful you will keep a slight pressure 
on the trigger with your first finger, which not only 
will prevent the revolver cocking properly, but may 
break off the sear-notch, or cause what you think is 
a "jam," but what is really your own fault in fight- 
ing the trigger against the hammer. 

You are very likely to have constant supposed 
"jams" of this sort at first, till you learn never to 
draw up the hammer without your trigger-finger 
being clear of the trigger. (I have more than once 
repeated this warning, as it is important to impress 
it on your memory.) 

Your right arm — and in fact, the whole of your 
body — should during the last five shots be immov- 
able. You merely use your right hand and wrist to 
do the cocking and trigger-squeezing. Your aim 
during the cocking ought not to be disturbed 
enough to be more than a few inches off the "bull." 



74 Revolver Shooting 

It assists cocking to cant the revolver slightly to the 
right and back again as you cock it. 

After each shot — and the instant the revolver is 
cocked again — begin a steadily increasing pressure 
straight back, and without a jerk, trying at the same 
time to get your sights as near the "bull" as you can 
before the revolver goes off again. The instant a 
shot is "off," begin to count afresh — "one, two, 
three, four.'' You can fire as quickly as you can 
get your aim, without waiting to count to "four"; 
but do not wait longer than "four," except if need- 
ful for your last shot. 

By the time you have got five shots off, there will 
be a vague sort of idea in your mind that each shot 
went off before the full two seconds were counted 
for it, which will very likely be the case. There- 
fore, take deliberate aim for your last shot. 

From your previous practice at the disappearing 
target, you should have got used to the sort of 
tremor and grating sound which is apparent imme- 
diately before the target actually disappears. Do 
not count during this last shot, but make certain of 
a "bull" even if you have to wait until the target is 
almost disappearing. 

If the target is actually disappearing before you 
fire, you may, by jerking down, "rip" a shot into 
the ' ' bull" across the target, even if the latter has got 
down to an angle of thirty degrees. In my record 
score, I think I must have spent over three seconds 



Bisley 75 

for this last shot; but it was worth it, as it turned 
out a central "bull." 

I have seen innumerable instances in which a man 
thought he was "late," and therefore "snapped" 
his last shot, making a miss ; and then the target 
remained up for some time afterwards, showing that 
there had been no need for any hurry. 

The rules to observe are : Snap the first ; be quick 
over the next four (in case you cannot get quite on 
to the ' ' bull' ' in one of these, take a shade longer over 
it and save on the remaining) ; and be deliberate on 
the last shot. It is better to chance not getting off 
the last shot in time than to spoil a winning score 
by hurrying it. 

If using an automatic pistol or revolver, all this 
becomes much easier, as no time is then wasted in 
cocking and re-aligning the sights. All that you 
have to do is to release the pressure on the trigger the 
moment each shot goes off, and instantly begin to 
squeeze again as you get your next aim. Do not 
keep on too long in this competition; half a dozen 
entries or practice scores are ample at a time. One 
only gets erratic and wild if one continues too long, 
and the revolver also gets hot. 

Any shot not outside the five-ring is a good one 
at this competition, except for the last shot, which 
should be a "bull." 

The sighting may have to be different in this from 
that required for slower shooting. Some men shoot 



76 Revolver Shooting 

up in one corner when snap-shooting with the heavy 
Bisley trigger-pull; but of course, for practical use, 
a revolver with such a trigger-pull should not be 
used, and it is preferable to have the sighting so 
that one can aim straight under the "bull," instead of 
having to make allowance for the jerking off. The 
trigger-pull should be as light as is deemed com- 
patible with safety. I fancy the Webley Automatic 
revolver will stand as light a pull as an ordinary 
revolver, but the automatic pistols so far on the 
market have a very heavy trigger-pull. 

It is a good plan to have the name of the competi- 
tion for which the revolver is sighted engraved on 
the stock, so as to prevent using the wrong revolver 
for it. 

A good time to shoot is when the shadow of the 
partition falls diagonally across the target, bisecting 
the ' ' bull' ' ; it gives one a line instantly to get an aim 
by, even if the bull is obscured by smoke. 

It is useless to shoot except in a dead calm at 
most of the moving and disappearing targets, as a 
wind blows the aim crooked; but at this competi- 
tion, if you can get to leeward of the partition, so 
as to get shelter for yourself, a little wind to blow 
the smoke away, if you are using black powder, is 
rather an advantage. Wearing glasses to protect 
the eyes is very important at this game. 



CHAPTER IX 

BISLEY 
(Continued*) 

Traversing Target 

Known as " The Slider :''* Target Moving Across the 
Line of Fire at the Rate of Quick-March ; Range 
Twenty Yards 

ALTHOUGH harder than the disappearing 
series, this is not so difficult as the rapid- 
firing one; in fact, it counts as about the second 
most difficult one of the series of competitions at 
moving targets. The chief difficulty is that when 
your aim is right horizontally, you may be wrong 
vertically, and vice versa. 

There is no necessity in this series to count, as 
you can see when the target is about to disappear. 

Every range officer has his own idea of what 
speed constitutes "at the rate of quick-march," so 
there is nothing gained by timing the "run" and 
setting the metronome bell to indicate that time for 
your man who runs your private target. 

77 



78 Revolver Shooting 

It is especially important not to shoot in this 
series until the Bisley meeting is several days old. 
For the first day or two, the men who take it in 
turns to "run" the target (which is done by turning 
the handle of a big wheel, over which runs a wire 
rope) are new to the job, and run it irregularly, 
jerkily, and with unequal speeds. Under such con- 
ditions, it is impossible to judge allowance of aim in 
front of the bull's-eye. 

The "holding," or "allowance," in front which 
made your last shot a ' * bull* ' may at your next either 
land you behind the "bull," or the man may slacken 
speed just as you squeeze off, and put you in front. 
Watch these men carefully, and decide who runs 
the target best. Choose your opportunity in a dead 
calm, and when he is running the target well and 
evenly (the speed does not much matter, and per- 
sonally I can shoot better when the target is going 
moderately fast) take your entry. On no account 
shoot if the man is running the target badly, either 
from his own fault or owing to the cord or wire 
being, from rain or other causes, too slack or too 
tight. 

When first practising for this competition, have a 
target made with a black band two inches wide run- 
ning down the middle of the target, instead of the 
usual bull's-eye. Begin your practice at this, hav- 
ing it first put up with the black band vertical, and 
then with it horizontal. Shooting at it vertical will 



Bisley 



79 



show you if you are getting the right allowance in 
front in your aim. When it is horizontal, it will 
show you if your elevation is correct. This can be 
elaborated by having black bands painted or pasted 
on the back of an ordinary target and, with its back 
towards you, shooting at them. Then, by turning 
it over after the six shots have been fired, you will 
see what score you would have made on a regulation 
target. The reason for this practice is that there 
are two things to attend to. One is the "allowance " 
in front, the other is the "elevation " ; and if a be- 
ginner tries to think of both at once, it will confuse 
him. 

If, after you have got pretty certain of your 
"allowance," you go to "elevation," you will most 
likely lose your "allowance," and have to go back 
to the vertical band ; and so on, alternately, till you 
can trust yourself at the regulation bull. 

Most people, unless they use alternate hands, 
find the "run" one way easier than the other. If 
you have any preference, begin your competition 
with the run from the more difficult side, which will 
ensure your having an easy run for the last shot ; 
whether your score wins or not often depends upon 
your last shot, and it is best to make that as easy as 
possible. 

I prefer higher elevation in sights for this com- 
petition. Instead of aiming to touch the "bull" at 
'VI o'clock " to get a central "bull," the aim should 



8o Revolver Shooting 

be at the actual elevation you want the bullet to go, 
so as to enable you to aim off at " III o'clock" and 
"IX o'clock" for right and left runs respectively. 

Some people who are slower on the trigger — that 
is, who take longer to give the order to the trigger- 
finger when their eye says the aim is right — may 
need more allowance. 

There is in astronomical work a technical term 
("reaction time") for the process of timing first 
contact in eclipses, and each observer deducts his 
own personal error, which seems constant to him. 
This allowance varies in revolver shooting with dif- 
ferent men. 

Some men aim at a spot, and wait for the target 
to come up to it; but this is useless, as any one 
knows who has shot moving game with a gun. 

Stand absolutely square to the front, or perhaps a 
little more toward the side on which you find it 
most difficult to follow the target. Plant the feet 
slightly farther apart than for the other competitions, 
and swing the whole of the upper part of the body from 
tlie hips. Do not swing your right arm, keeping the 
rest of the body still. The shoulder-joint does not 
give so smooth a horizontal swing as swinging 
from the hips. Moreover, if you swing the arm, 
you have to turn the head, or else have to look out 
of the corners of your eyes, instead of straight be- 
fore you. 

Let the whole of the upper part of your body be 



Bisley 



81 



held rigid, and swing only on the hips. Lift your 
revolver from the table as the target appears, and 
swing with the target, bringing up the revolver on a 
diagonal line (this is the resultant of the vertical rise 
from the shoulder and the horizontal swing of the 
hips). Let the sights come horizontal to the eyes 
a little in front of the proposed allowance; and, as 
you keep your arm moving in front of the bull, 
gradually let the bull overtake you, till it is the right 
allowance behind your sight ; and still keep on swing- 
ing. All this time be gradually squeezing the trig- 
ger, so that it squeezes off just when the aim is 
right. Be sure not to stop swinging before the 
revolver goes off. 

Some range officers make you "put down" after 
each shot ; others let you keep "at the present" be- 
tween the shots. I do not think the latter is of any 
advantage ; it tires the arm, and you cannot make 
the diagonal swing up to your spot in front of the 
bull. 

At the firing-point of this range you cannot get 
shelter from the wind, so choose if possible an 
absolutely calm time for shooting. 

I do not think it is of any use deciding to fire 
upon a certain part of the "run" : it is best to fire 
when you feel you are aiming right, and you may 
get this feeling sooner in the "run" on some days 
than on others. 

There is a tendency to " follow' ' too long, and 

6 



82 Revolver Shooting 

then, owing to lack of time, to jerk off just as the 
target disappears. I have made " bulls" when the 
target was almost out of sight, in fact, I did so in my 
record shoot ; but this is a bad habit to contract, 
and a risky sort of shot, as it is almost sure to be 
too far behind, or even to be fired into the shield in 
front of the target ; though, of course, if you have 
not a good aim, it is better to delay as long as pos- 
sible, rather than to shoot earlier with a bad aim. 

Be sure in your private range that your shield is 
bullet-proof, or you many get into the habit of 
making " bulls" when the target is " sitting" behind 
the shield, by shooting through it. To economise 
space, you can have this target run in front of your 
disappearing-target apparatus, putting the latter 
out of the way when not needed ; this latter will also 
serve for stationary-target purposes, and to hold the 
fifty-yards target. Do not have a target which runs 
by gravitation, as shooting at a target which is run- 
ning downhill requires quite different sighting from 
that needed with one running horizontally. 



CHAPTER X 

BISLEY 
(Continued*) 

Stationary Fifty-Yards Target 

NOW we come to the fifty-yards target. 
To shoot in this series (known as "The Long 
Range") you require the smallest and finest sights 
which you can see clearly without trying your eyes. 
There is no advantage in having them smaller than 
you can see properly. 

Also, it is well to have several revolvers with 
sights of different sizes, and differently sighted: 
some high, some low, some to the right, and some 
to the left, so as to suit varying light. 

By the Bisley rules, you are not allowed to adjust 
your sights. 

I have experimented with peep-sights; but one 
cannot hold a revolver steadily enough to get the 
full advantage of a peep-sight. 

Have a telescope or binocular (being a deer- 
stalker, and having very long sight, I prefer a tele- 
scope, but prismatic binoculars are good) and locate 

83 



84 Revolver Shooting 

each shot, correcting the next, if necessary, by alter- 
ing your aim — as the rules will not permit you to 
alter the sights; shoot very deliberately; rest your 
eyes frequently; stop at every breath of air, and 
only fire when you are "dead sure." Clean after 
each entry. 

Do not keep on too long at this range. A few 
entries now and again are best, as it is very straining 
to the eyes and trying to the muscles. 

Personally, I prefer a heavy charge, as giving 
more accuracy at fifty yards; but one cannot stand 
many shots with a heavy charge without feeling the 
consequences. 



CHAPTER XI 

BISLEY 

{Continued} 

Team Shooting and Coaching 

WHEN you are a member of a team, do exactly 
what the captain of the team directs 3/011. 
Never mind if you think that he is wrong, and that 
you could do better work in your own way. It is 
''his show," and he alone is responsible; merely 
shoot as well as you can in his way. Of course, if 
he should ask your advice, that is a different thing. 
Should another member of your team ask your ad- 
vice, refer him to your captain. 

If you are captain of a team, and have the choice 
of men, select, preferably, men whose nerve can be 
relied upon; a veteran who does not get ''rattled," 
even if only a moderate shot, is preferable to a bril- 
liant beginner who may go all to pieces at a critical 
moment. 

The man I prefer in a team is one who always 
shoots a good consistent score, — never brilliantly, 
yet never badly ; you can always rely upon him to 

• 85 



86 Revolver Shooting 

shoot up to his form. If you have two such men, let 
one of them shoot the first score, — if possible against 
your adversaries' best man, — so as to give your team 
confidence that they are likely to hold their own. 

Reserve yourself — or your most reliable shot, who 
can be trusted not to lose his head — for emergencies, 
such as these: to shoot last, when every thing de- 
pends upon making a good score ; when the light is 
bad and likely to improve later; if there is a wind 
that may drop later; for pulling up a score when 
the other team is leading; forgetting the sighting 
when you retire to the fifty-yards range; to shoot, 
"turn and turn about," against the most nervous 
or dangerous man of the other team, etc. 

You should specially notice if any of your team 
are getting nervous; prevent their watching good 
shooting by their adversaries, or looking at and 
comparing scores. Encourage them to think that 
their own team is so strong that their own individual 
shortcomings do not matter. You can, in this way, 
"nurse ' a man along who is on the verge of "going 
to pieces." 

If possible, do not let your men know how the 
scores stand. If there is a wind, rain, or bad light, 
consult with your most "weather-wise" man, and 
decide how to "place" your bad shots so as to give 
them the easiest "shoot." That is to say, if the 
wind is likely to drop later, shoot your strong shots 
when the weather is unfavourable. 



Bisley 87 

It is also a good thing to have a reliable member 
of the team stand behind each one who is shooting, 
to "spot" for him, keep time for him, and other- 
wise coach him, watching the time constantly, so as 
to let his man know instantly — if he asks— how 
much longer the time-limit allows him. Coaching 
is allowed in team shooting, but not in ordinary 
individual competitions. 

Do not let any member of your team leave the 
range on any account till the competition is over. 

Have a man or two extra, in case of anything 
disabling or preventing one of your team from 
shooting. 

Do not let two men shoot with the same revolver, 
as both men may be wanted to shoot at the same 
time. 

Do not scold a man, however badly he may be 
doing; you only flurry him, and it does no good. 

Do not have any refreshments for your team until 
the competition is over. 



CHAPTER XII 

BISLEY 
{Concluded} 

General Remarks on Shooting in Competitions 

WHEN shooting in competition at Bisley, — or 
elsewhere, for that matter, — be careful not 
to spoil your opponent's scores. Never approach 
or leave the firing-point while he is aiming or about 
to shoot. If he is about to shoot, and there be 
time, reserve your shot till he has fired; and do not 
fidget with your revolver or cartridges or get your 
target drawn up whilst he is aiming. Keep per- 
fectly still and silent till his shot has gone off. Do 
not speak to him at any time, except to answer 
some question of his. If he is at all nervous, you 
might by a slight movement or word ruin his score. 
Read carefully, before shooting, the rules of the 
competition in which you are about to engage, and 
be sure you comply with every detail of them. If 
you find you have, inadvertently, transgressed a 
rule, report to the range officer at once, and get 
your score cancelled, 

88 



Bisley 



89 



Write your name very distinctly on your score- 
card ; I have known a man to lose a prize owing 
to his name being illegible on the score-card. See 
that your shots have been entered properly and 
rightly added up and corrections initialled. 

Have your target dated and signed by the range 
officer, with the name of the competition also in- 
scribed, and keep it as evidence in case your card 
should get lost. Be sure you do not by mistake 
have a score entered on a ticket belonging to 
another series. 

Before shooting at Bisley, I put a weight in a 
chemist's scale equal to the average weight of one 
of my loaded cartridges. I weigh each cartridge 
against it ; put all of the correct weight aside for 
Bisley, and keep the others for practice. By this 
means I minimise the chance of a weak or too strong 
shot. 

When you are at the firing-point, pay no atten- 
tion to what any one else is doing, or to what scores 
have been, or are being, made, or to any of your 
scores being beaten ; the great thing is to have the 
average all round high for the aggregate prizes. If 
you are constantly watching the scores of others, 
rushing from range to range as your various scores 
are passed, you will have much less chance of mak- 
ing good scores than if you keep plodding on, con- 
stantly adding a point or two to your aggregate. 
You can afterwards try to beat individual scores, if 



90 Revolver Shooting 

necessary. Of course, if you at any time, in any 
one series, get a score which you think is up to the 
limit of your skill, you may let that series alone till 
you have reached your limit in another series. 
Never watch a good man shooting; it will only 
make you doubt if you can beat him. It is also 
tiring your eyes uselessly. 

Do not read or use your eyes any more than is 
absolutely necessary. When resting, dark glasses 
will be found a great relief to the eyes. I find that 
if I am getting tired of shooting, a half-hour's gal- 
lop on a horse that does not pull freshens me up, 
and helps to divert my thoughts; others may prefer 
lying quietly down and shutting the eyes. 

If you find yourself getting stale, drop the whole 
thing, even for several days. It will not be time 
wasted, as you will shoot better afterwards ; and you 
will certainly get worse if you keep on without rest. 

Never protest or dispute a score or decision. 
The range officers are doing their best under very 
trying circumstances. If you think any decision 
wrong, say nothing about it and forget it; you will 
only spoil your shooting if you worry about it. 
Just set your teeth and make a score a point better 
than the disputed one ought, in your opinion, to 
have been. The protesting man is a nuisance both 
to himself and every one else. 

Should you see a man infringing the rules, leave; 
it to others to protest. 



CHAPTER XIII 

STAGE SHOOTING 

THIS subject can be subdivided into two parts: 
real, expert, very accurate work, requiring 
great skill and nerve; and conjuring tricks, that 
is to say, shooting assisted by apparatus and the 
arts of the conjurer. The greatest insult that can 
be offered to a professional shot is to call him a 
conjurer. 

To begin with the unaided shooting: You must 
have a safe background to shoot against. The best, 
in my opinion, is a steel plate, leaning towards you 
at an angle of forty-five degrees, and below it a 
shallow tray, filled with sand, to catch the bullets, 
which flatten on the steel and drop into the tray. 
As only very light powder-charges are used, and as 
the revolver bullets for this purpose are round, or 
semi-round, this is sufficient. 

It is usual to have something for the bullets to go 
through before striking the steel plate. Green baize 
is good for the eyes as a background; but it is dan- 
gerous, being very inflammable; it gives off fluff, 
some of which stands out from the baize, and the 

9i 



92 Revolver Shooting 

rest falls to the ground. This is like tinder and is 
liable to catch fire from burning particles of pow- 
der. Some fabric dipped in a non-inflammable 
mixture should be used ; either green, white, or black, 
whichever you find suits your eyesight best. The 
butt is either put " prompt" side of the stage (so 
that the shooter's right arm is nearest the audience), 
and at a slight angle, in order that people may see 
the target ; or it is placed at the back of the stage, 
the shooter standing with his back to the audience. 
In either case, the shooter keeps his ' 'tools" on a 
side-table, and when he shoots he stands quite clear 
of any table, so as to afford an uninterrupted view 
of all his proceedings. 

The range is about fifteen feet. This may seem 
very short, but it looks a long shot on a stage ; and 
it must be remembered that the shooting is at very 
small objects and no misses are allowable. The 
golden rule to be borne in mind in stage shooting is: 
Never hazard a shot that is not very easy to you, 
and which you cannot be practically sure of success- 
fully accomplishing. If you try a difficult shot and 
succeed once in three times — such as hitting a pin 
thrown into the air — hardly any of the audience will 
think of you as aught but a bad shot ; whereas, if 
you hit six stationary glass balls — each as big as an 
orange — in rapid succession, they will think you 
wonderful ! 



Stage Shooting 93 

WEAPONS 

One or more .44 Russian Model Smith & Wesson 
target revolvers; Ira Paine target sights; hair- 
trigger; Union Metallic Cartridge Co.'s gallery am- 
munition. I use the revolvers which formerly 
belonged to Ira Paine; several front sights, the 
finest about the size of the head of a small pin, the 
stalks as fine as a needle; hind sight adjustable, 
both laterally and vertically, with screw adjustment ; 
trigger-pull so light that laying the finger on the 
trigger almost sets it off. With such a revolver, of 
course, extreme care must be taken never, for an 
instant, to have the barrel pointed in any direction 
except that in which it would be safe for the bullet 
to travel, and also to keep the finger off the trigger 
till you actually want the bullet to go. 

Ira Paine, when shooting at objects on the head 
of an assistant, used to "come down" from above, 
instead of "coming up" in the usual way; so that 
if the pistol went off by accident there would be no 
danger to the assistant, as there would be if the 
muzzle travelled up his body to his head in sighting 
from below. 

I do not approve of shooting at objects on the 
head or in the hands of an assistant ; it is not, in my 
opinion, justifiable to risk life in this way. 

The other weapon is a Stevens, or Smith & Wes- 
son, single-shot .22 pistol. Some people use this to 



94 Revolver Shooting 

give variety to the show ; but I prefer to stick to my 
own weapon, the revolver. 

See that a narrow plank of wood— metal would, if 
struck, make a bullet glance— is put in front of the 
butt with slits and clips in it for holding objects. 
As mentioned before, I do not like assistants hold- 
ing them in the fingers, though, for this purpose, 
steel thimbles are generally worn over the thumb 
and forefinger, and are concealed by a glove. 

Professionals sometimes shoot objects on the 
heads of assistants— generally a lady with her hair 
piled up very high, or wearing a steel skull-cap 
under a wig. 

The following shots I recommend to amateurs as 
safe. Beginning with the easiest, we have: 

Six stationary balls in a row. (The balls are cast 
from a mixture of resin and whiting; they are very 
brittle and break at a graze.) Take them as quickly 
as you can be sure of them. With practice, you 
can "snap" the six off in about four seconds. 

Next extract the used cartridges, and have them 
put in a row on the edge of the board, standing 
them on their bases. Hit them in quick succession. 
This requires a little more care, as they are small; 
but their height prevents your being likely to miss 
vertically, and you have merely to pay attention to 
keeping your horizontal aim correct. Be sure not to 
shoot too low; for if you do, and hit the plank, you 
will jar all of them off it. 



Stage Shooting 95 

This can be varied, if you are a really good shot, 
by placing the cartridges on their sides with the cap 
end towards yourself; but it requires good shooting. 

Shooting at an object with a wine glass on each 
side without breaking the glasses is a trick in which 
the difficulty varies according to how close the 
glasses are. 

Put up a piece of paper with a black pencil line 
ruled vertically on it; hit this line. This requires 
care not to "pull off " to one side. 

A similar line horizontal. This is more difficult, 
as the elevation must be absolutely correct if you 
want to hit the line. 

Hit a swinging ball. Take the shot on a turn; 
do not follow, but aim at an imaginary spot just 
inside of where the ball is at one end of its swing, 
aiming at "IX o'clock,' ' as the ball is momentarily 
stationary at its farthest swing to the right, or vice 
versa. 

Put six balls in a row ; hit one with the revolver 
in the right hand, a second with the revolver in the 
left; a third and fourth with the revolver upside 
down (Figs. A and B), pulling the trigger with the 
little finger and using alternate hand. The remain- 
ing two shots to be made with the revolver held half 
canted to the right (Fig. C), and then half canted to 
the left (Fig. D). The unusual positions explain 
themselves in the photographs. After a little prac- 
tice, none of these positions are difficult. 



96 



Revolver Shooting 



The upside down shot, as soon as you get used to 
aiming at the top edge of the ball instead of the 




Fig. A 



bottom, is a very steady, easy position. For the 
two side ones, you aim at "IX" and at "III o'clock/ ' 
respectively. 

Hang your watch on a hook on the board, and 
place a ball resting on this hook. Break the ball. 
This is easy, as the ball is, comparatively, a big 
mark. Aim at the top edge of the ball, so as to 
break it by a grazing shot near the top; this is less 
risky for the watch. 



Stage Shooting 



97 



Do the same with any watches lent by the audi- 
ence. A man once kept lending me his watch for 
this trick; I found out afterwards that it would not 
go, and he had hoped that I would hit it and thus 
be compelled to give him another! 

Borrow small objects from the audience, and hit 
them. Stamps on envelopes, visiting cards, bits of 
pencil, etc., are suitable; but do not shoot at any- 
thing which will make a bullet glance, or you may 
hit some of your audience. Thus a walnut is very 




Fig. B 



dangerous, causing bullets to glance. An orange or 
an egg explodes beautifully when hit, but both are 



9 8 



Revolver Shooting 



rather messy. The coloured balls for Christmas 
trees are nice to shoot at ; but a bullet sometimes 
makes a hole without breaking them. 




Fig. C 

Put up the ace of hearts and hit it. It is usual 
to have a pack composed of only aces of hearts. 
Have several ace cards placed on top of each other, 
and when the bullet goes through the group, have 
the cards " dealt " among the audience; or, if at a 
Charity Bazaar, sold singly. 

Put up the six of hearts, and hit the six pips. 
This requires some doing to get all six shots neatly 
in the separate pips. 

Put a card edgeways towards you and cut it in 
half. This is a pretty trick and brings down the 
house when well done. It requires the same skill 
as hitting the vertical pencil lines. If you are not 
very sure of yourself, and you succeed on the first 



• >. 



Stage Shooting 



99 



shot, do not risk a second try. This rule applies to 
all the difficult shots. My best score at this game 
was five cards out of six shots, the cards being 
placed edgewise at a range of fifteen feet. 

Hit a string from which an object is hanging. 
Get string which is weak, and have the object pretty 
heavy, or else you may ''nick" the string without 
its breaking. Berlin wool, with a weight so heavy 
that it strains the wool to nearly breaking-point, 
breaks with more certainty than string or twine. 
There is an ingenious, though scarcely legitimate, 
way of making this shot very easy. You merely 
double a piece of string and tie a knot, hanging it 




Fig. D 

over two nails, the distance between which is a 
fraction under .44 inch. Two hooks on the ball are 



LofC. 



ioo Revolver Shooting 

the same distance apart, so that the ball is thus hung 
by a double string. If you hit between these, both 
strings are necessarily cut by a .44 bullet, if your 
aim be true, while one is cut even if you hit half an 
inch out. 

Put a ball filled with red fluid on top of an empty 
claret glass; break the ball, and the glass will be 
filled with the fluid. Take care the ball fits very 
loosely, and rests only slightly in the glass, or the 
latter will break also. 

Knock a cork off a bottle ; an ordinary wine bottle 
or a wooden or metal one is dangerous if hit, as 
causing the bullet to glance ; it is better to have a 
plaster of Paris bottle, painted black. 

Put up a bunch of six grapes, and take them off 
one at a time. 
* Put up candles and snuff them. 

Hit two balls simultaneously, one swinging past 
a stationary one, or both swinging from opposite 
ways. You have to take them just as one is about 
to cover the other. 

Have a ball swung round horizontally at great 
speed centrifugally from a small wheel spun by 
clockwork. This requires very good M timing/ * you 
aiming at a side and pulling when the ball is at the 
opposite side, or you will be too late. Stand two 
balls with a steel knife-edge between them, vertically 
towards you and rather nearer to you than the balls. 
Hit the knife-edge in such a manner as to split the 



Stage Shooting 101 

bullet in two pieces, which fly off and break the 
balls. The knife must be securely fastened, and 
the precise distance between the back of it and the 
balls (which varies according to the distance they are 
apart) must be determined by experiment. 

Hitting an object with a paper on the muzzle 
hiding the mark. Cut a round hole, just big enough 
to slip over the muzzle, in a piece of thick paper 
the size of an ordinary envelope. Slip this over the 
muzzle, up against the front sight. When taking 
aim, it will be found that with the left eye closed 
the paper hides the object. By keeping both eyes 
open, however, shooting is easy, the right eye work- 
ing the sights and the left seeing the object. The 
paper must not project much to the left, or it would 
hide your view with the left eye. 

Fix a nail slightly in a block of soft wood and 
drive it home with a shot. 



CHAPTER XIV 

TRICK SHOOTING 

WE now come to the conjurer's style of shoot- 
ing, which I would not advise any one to 
practise, even for a Charity Bazaar; it will ruin his 
reputation as a shot. However, I will describe 
hereunder some of the devices in connection with 
this trick shooting. 

The chief apparatus — under different forms — is a 
lever some twelve inches long. This lever is pivoted 
in its centre; one end has a steel disc about a foot 
in diameter, or less, according to the shooter's skill 
— of a size he is sure of never missing, — the other 
end has a steel point at right angles. The lever is 
placed vertically at such a height that the steel spike 
is just opposite the middle of the ball which is placed 
on the assistant's head. The steel disc is some eight 
inches above the man's head; the whole of this ap- 
paratus is hidden from the audience behind the 
" back-cloth " of the scenery. The locality of the 
disc is indicated to the shooter by something in 
the scenery, as a pattern, or a trophy of flags, etc. 

The assistant stands with his back against the 

102 



Trick Shooting 103 

back-cloth, and the ball is on his head so that the 
steel spike is just clear of the middle of the ball; 
the shooter then fires at the trophy of flags, or what 
not (which is eight or more inches above the man's 
head, and therefore a practically easy and safe shot) ; 
the bullet hitting the disc, drives it back; the other 
end of the lever with the spike comes forward ; the 
spike goes through the scenery, breaks the ball, and 
at once returns out of sight. The trick is varied by 
having the lever inside a dummy figure, the per- 
former shooting into the figure to break small ob- 
jects on its head or in its mouth. A bellows is 
sometimes behind the back-cloth with the nozzle at 
the flame of a candle which is blown out when the 
bellows is hit ; and the shooter is supposed to have 
snuffed the candle. 

The shooting carl be done at quite long range 
from the back of the gallery to the back of the stage 
(for instance) by lengthening the lever so as to 
minimise risk to the assistant. 

Another way in which the candle trick is done, is 
to have each candle inside a large concave reflector; 
the splash from the bullet comes back from the re- 
flector and puts out the candle. 

Shooting at anything moving — swinging balls, etc. 
— is done with shot; the shooting in this case must 
be done with a back-cloth over the butt, as the 
splashes on a naked steel plate would betray the use 
of shot. This makes very easy what in legitimate 



104 Revolver Shooting 

shooting requires nice "timing. " The cartridge is 
either simply filled with special shot even smaller 
than "dust" shot and a wad, or if the cartridges are 
likely to be seen they are loaded with hollow wooden 
black-leaded bullets, full of shot, which the rifling 
of the barrel breaks, and these are substituted by 
"palming" for real bulleted cartridges shown to the 
audience. Shot is sometimes fired out of a smooth 
bore revolver. 

Two balls are broken with a revolver in each hand, 
shot simultaneously. This is always considered very 
wonderful, the performer pretending to take a long 
time over his aim, etc. One revolver is loaded with 
shot, the other with blank ammunition. The one 
loaded with shot is aimed between the two balls; 
the spread of shot breaks both balls. 

Knocking ashes off cigar whilst being smoked by 
assistant : A long hat-pin is put into the cigar, the 
point just reaching up to the ashes. On the shot — 
a blank cartridge — being fired, the assistant pushes 
the knob of the pin with his tongue, and dislodges 
the ashes. 

Objects held in the fingers or resting on the 
shoulders of assistants are shot with cork bullets, 
and the assistant wears hidden steel epaulets and 
finger-tips. 

Blindfold shooting is done by seeing down the 
side of the nose on to a looking-glass fixed at an 
angle behind the hind sight. 



Trick Shooting 105 

What is called shooting through a wedding-ring 
and breaking a ball is done with the lever apparatus ; 
the bullet does not go through the ring, but above 
it. 

Shooting at the trigger of a loaded rifle fixed in a 
rest, the shot from the rifle breaking a ball on the 
shooter's head, is also another form of the lever 
apparatus. 

I think that in stage performances there should 
be a committee of shooting men appointed by the 
audience to see that the shooting is genuine and not 
trick shooting. 



CHAPTER XV 

TARGET SHOOTING OFF HORSEBACK 

WHEN shooting off a standing horse at a sta- 
tionary mark, turn the horse facing to the 
left at an angle of forty-five degrees. This is to 
prevent his flinching at the shots, as any but a very 
seasoned horse would be sure to do if you shot 
straight over his head or close past his ears. Also, 
if he were to toss his head when you were shooting 
over it, you might both kill him and get either a 
rearing backward fall, with the horse on top of you, 
or else a " purler " over his head. If the horse shies 
away from the outstretched arm, tie a handkerchief 
over his off eye, as the bullfighters do, until he is 
accustomed to the noise and flash. 

There should be a bar in front of the horse to pre- 
vent his getting closer to the target than the distance 
for which the match is arranged ; but if the bar is 
low, and the horse a good fencer, he is apt to jump 
at the bar. It is very difficult to get a horse to keep 
absolutely still, and for that reason it is often more 
difficult to shoot when the horse is fidgeting than 
when he is swinging along in a gallop. 

For shooting on a gallop or canter, children's 

iq6 



Target Shooting off Horseback 107 

balloons, put up on the " heads and posts' prin- 
ciple, are very good marks, as they can be shot at 
with wooden bullets, shooting alternately to the 
right and left. I can also recommend a target on 
the principle of the Bisley "running deer,' ' travel- 
ling on rails parallel to a railing, on the other side 
of which the shooter gallops and which prevents his 
getting too close to the target. 

Firing blank ammunition at "lightning paper' ' 
stuck in the cleft of a stick is very good practice, 
and is, moreover, less dangerous to spectators. 
The paper flares up on being touched by burning 
particles of powder, but of course the shooting must 
be done at a distance of a few feet only. 

I do not think there is much advantage in canter- 
ing too slowly ; the speed at which the horse goes 
smoothest, without raking or boring, is the best. 

For practical purposes, shooting behind one, when 
galloping, is useful. This is, I think, best practised 
with blank ammunition at the lightning paper, as 
with bullets it would be too dangerous. It is an 
assistance, when first learning, to catch hold of the 
pommel of the saddle with the bridle hand as you 
swing your body round to fire. When shooting 
alternately to right and left, be sure to lift the 
muzzle of the revolver clear of the horse's head as 
you swing it from side to side, or you may shoot 
your horse through the head, if he should happen 
to toss it at that moment. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SHOOTING IN SELF-DEFENCE 

THIS chapter is written entirely from the technical 
point of view as a branch of revolver shooting, 
while the legal aspect of the question is treated by 
law experts in the Appendix of my larger treatise, 
The Art of Revolver Shooting. Whether there is 
justification, even in self-defence, in killing any one 
is another matter. Fortunately, however, in the 
great majority of cases, the object of protecting 
oneself — or, what is more important, protecting 
some one else — is attained without actually shooting. 
The mere fact of being armed is generally sufficient, 
and in many cases wearing the revolver openly or 
having it in one's hand, even unloaded, suffices. 
As Polonius says: " Beware of entrance to a quarrel, 
but being in, bear 't that the opposed may beware 
of thee/' But, if shooting has to be done, every- 
thing depends on getting the first shot. 

As I said above, I am not dealing with the ethical 
aspect of the case; and, putting that aside, if you 
can take your adversary unawares, and "get the 
drop on him" before he gets it on you, you have a 
great advantage. 

1 08 



Shooting in Self-Defence 109 

A short-barrelled revolver is best if it has to be 
concealed, but of as big a calibre as you can carry 
without its being too bulky and showing in your 
pocket. If there is no necessity for concealment, 
carry one six inches in the barrel. 

Some prefer a large-bore army revolver, with the 
barrel cut down to two inches. I am assuming that 
the shooting will be done at a distance of only a 




Mechanism of the Smith & Wesson Hammerless Safety 

Revolver 

A y Safety Lever ; B, Safety Catch ; C, Hammer ; Z>, Trigger; 
G, Safety Latch Spring 

few feet, and without aim in the ordinary sense of 
the word. 

As elsewhere explained, it is very dangerous to 
carry an ordinary revolver loaded in the pocket, even 
at half-cock, especially if it be a self-cocker. 

The proper way (unless a ''safety revolver' ' is 
carried) is to leave one chamber unloaded, and lower 



no 



Revolver Shooting 



the hammer on that empty chamber. The revolver 
here described obviates these risks. 

This is the Smith & Wesson .38 calibre safety 
hammerless pocket revolver. This revolver cannot 
go off accidentally, even when all the chambers are 
loaded, as there is a safety catch which prevents the 




.38 Safety Smith & Wesson 



revolver being discharged unless it is pressed at the 
same time that the trigger is pulled. 

Any one used to revolver shooting, who holds 
this revolver as I have described in my instruc- 
tions for revolver shooting, and squeezes the trigger, 
will be able to shoot without thinking of the safety 
catch, for he presses it unconsciously in gripping 
the stock. A person not accustomed to a revolver 



Shooting in Self-Defence 1 1 1 

cannot, however, fire it; in fact, if a man not an ex- 
pert revolver-shot wrested the revolver from you, it 
would be harmless in his hands against you. Indeed, 
the pistol could without danger be given, loaded, to 
a small child to play with, as it requires a stronger 
grip than a child's to discharge it. 

Most revolver accidents occur either from the 
hammer receiving an accidental blow, slipping from 
the thumb, catching in something, or from the trig- 
ger being touched unintentionally, or the revolver 
being left at full-cock. 

In the Smith & Wesson safety revolver all these 
causes of accident are impossible, and it is al- 
ways ready for instant use. Its further advantages 
are: 

i. There is no external hammer to catch in any- 
thing. 

2. Pressure on the trigger cannot discharge the 
revolver unless the stock is properly grasped at the 
same time. 

3. The revolver cannot be kept at full-cock. 

4. Being hammerless, and having no projections, 
it can be drawn more quickly than an ordinary 
revolver. 

5. It can be carried with absolute safety loaded 
in the pocket, with the knowledge that a fall or blow 
will not discharge it. 

This revolver is also made in smaller calibre (.32), 
with both 3 in. and i)4 in. barrel. In the latter case 



ii2 Revolver Shooting 

it is called a bicycle revolver, and takes up less room 
in the pocket. 

This calibre might be better for a lady's use; but 
for a strong man I prefer the large calibre, as being 
more powerful. 

I have before said that I object to double-action 
revolvers on the score of inaccuracy, but this refers 
to target and game shooting; for self-defence at a 
few feet off these objections do not apply, as ex- 
treme accuracy of aim is not so important, and 
quickness is everything. 

Besides this, the cocking by trigger action in 
this revolver is so arranged that it can, with a 
little practice, be held at full-cock whilst the aim 
is taken, instead of the cocking and firing being a 
continuous action, as in other double-action re- 
volvers. 

Carrying the revolver in the hip pocket is in my 
opinion a mistake, as the movement of putting back 
the hand to draw will instantly put an adversary on 
his guard and most likely draw his fire. 

For a case where you are likely to be robbed, the 
inside breast-pocket (where bank-notes are usually 
carried) is a good place for the revolver, as, when 
you are asked for your money, you can appear to be 
taking it out of this pocket whilst you are really 
drawing the revolver; or the revolver can be shot 
from this pocket without drawing it. 

Usually the right-hand side-pocket of a jacket is 



Shooting in Self-Defence 113 

the handiest, or, rather, the pocket on the side of 
the hand you can shoot with best. 

Shooting through the pocket is as quick and un- 
expected a way as any; another is to turn partly 
away, and in doing so draw and fire from behind 
your back, or under your other arm. 

But, assuming that you would prefer, if possible, 
to capture your assailant without shooting him, try 
whether you cannot unexpectedly ''get the drop' 
{i. e., an aim) on him, and make him hold up his 
hands before he can draw his revolver. 

As in fencing and boxing, the great thing is never 
to take your eyes off your opponent's for an instant ; 
and if by any subterfuge you can induce him to take 
his eyes off you, or distract his attention to any- 
thing else, then is the time to "get the drop " on 
him, or, as a last resource, to shoot. 

Knocking a chair over, throwing something past 
or at him, with your non-shooting hand, or calling 
out to some imaginary, or real, person behind him 
may often have the desired effect, 

If he is a really "bad " man, and armed, the worst 
thing you can do is to take a revolver in your hand 
— or even make towards it — unless you mean to 
shoot instantly ; it will only draw his fire, or he may 
unexpectedly disarm you in the way described below. 

Supposing you are unarmed and your adversary 
has a revolver, you may be able to render his weapon 
harmless by ejecting his cartridges. 



ii4 Revolver Shooting 

The way to do this varies with different makes 
of revolvers, but the principle in each case consists 
in making a downward stroke on the barrel of his 
revolver with one of your hands, and in the same 
movement operating the opening catch or lever with 
your thumb. 

If you get an assistant to take an empty revolver 
and point it at you, and you practise this trick, you 
will find it very simple and effective, but of course 
there would be no use in trying it with an adversary 
who suspected you were about to do so. The 
Smith & Wesson Russian Model can be rendered 
harmless by seizing the middle of the barrel with 
your thumb under the catch, you being to the left 
and using your right hand, or vice versa. Simul- 
taneously with seizing the revolver give a quick 
quarter turn to your wrist to the right, and all the 
cartridges will fly out. 

With the Webley, you place your thumb OVER 
instead of under, the catch in seizing the revolver, 
and press your thumb towards the palm of your 
hand in making the wrench. 

With solid frame revolvers, like the new Colt and 
Smith & Wesson, you operate the catch, and instead 
of twisting your wrist, you push out the cylinder 
with your first and second fingers, at the same time 
pushing the extractor plunger with your little finger, 
but this make of revolver is much more difficult to 
disarm suddenly than those I have named above. 



Shooting in Self-Defence 115 

With any hammer revolver you can make it harm- 
less by slipping your thumb under the hammer, or, 
if you are strong in the grip, by holding the cylinder 
and preventing it revolving after the first shot is 
fired. 

I saw a very good suggestion in an article in an 
American paper — the writer's name I unfortunately 
forget — to the effect that it was an excellent thing, 
when expecting " trouble/' to wear a big revolver 
ostentatiously and to have a smaller one in your 
hand, concealed under a cape, or otherwise; your 
adversary would think himself safe as long as he 
watched your big revolver and saw that you had not 
put your hand near it, whilst all the time you would 
be ready to "hold him up " or shoot with the other 
revolver, the existence of which he would not 
suspect. 

If a burglar is in your house, do not carry a candle, 
as that makes you an easy target in case he should 
try to shoot at you. The iron rails of banisters, 
especially if they are wide, ornamental ones, are a 
good protection. A door is of no use (except for 
concealment before the man has seen you), as a 
bullet with an ordinary charge will go through it. 

Use a light charge (gallery ammunition by prefer- 
ence) for house protection, or you may shoot some 
of your family through a thin wall when "burglar- 
potting." 

Out-of-doors, too, a lamp-post, or other narrow 



n6 Revolver Shooting 

object, will spoil a man's aim by making him try to 
hit that part of you which shows on either side in- 
stead of his having your full width to aim at, even 
if it is too narrow or small fully to protect you. 

It is better not to try to give him a small mark to 
aim at by standing sideways, as then, if he hits you, 
he will rake all through your vitals ; whereas, if you 
are facing him squarely, he may put several bullets 
into you without fatal effect. Holding your bent 
arm across your heart, and at the same time pro- 
tecting your temples with the side of your revolver, 
— which duellists do directly they have fired, — may 
be of some use; but it is better to depend upon 
hitting your adversary before he hits you. If he 
shoots and misses you, drop at once, as if hit, and 
he will probably pause and give you a chance to 
shoot. 

If a man does not look desperate and capable of 
continuing shooting till he is killed, if you can 
break his shooting wrist it may be sufficient ; and if 
he should try to shift his pistol from the disabled 
hand to the other, you can break that also. 

Should you be mounted and your adversary afoot, 
jumping off and sheltering yourself behind your 
horse will protect you from a revolver-shot ; also 
galloping hard at him and shouting may spoil his 
aim ; but if he is cool he may take an easy shot at 
you when you are past and before you can turn. 

If a man is running away from, or coming at you, 



Shooting in Self-Defence 117 

and has no firearm, you can make him helpless by 
shooting him in a leg; a long crossing shot in a bad 
light would make the leg shot rather doubtful, un- 
less there be time to have several tries. 

If a man absolutely has to be killed, it is better 
to shoot where the white shirt shows in evening 
dress. This is a bigger mark than the head,, and he 
may, moreover, duck his head as you pull. 

The stomach shot is a murderous one, and would 
not be justifiable except under very rare circum- 
stances. A charging man at very close range would 
have the wind knocked out of him, and be stopped 
perhaps more effectually by this shot than any 
other. 

If your opponent is a bad shot, you can take a 
long-shot at him from a distance, say 120 yards, at 
which, if he has a cheap revolver, he cannot hit you 
except by a fluke, and it would not do much harm 
even if he did hit you. 

In fact, a bad shot armed with a revolver is less 
dangerous than a strong, determined man with a 
knife. It must be remembered that a knife can be 
thrown some distance, so it does not do to let a man 
with one in his hand, or even suspected of having 
one, come too close. 

A cartridge loaded with salt is a good man-stopper 
for burglars and has the advantage of not endanger- 
ing life, but of course it is of no use against a de- 
termined man unless he is shot in the face ; and in 



n8 Revolver Shooting 

that case salt would do even more damage to his eyes 
than a bullet, and a bullet would be a more merciful 
load. 

The pamphlet on Self-Defence to which I alluded 
in the Preface, says that to put the revolver beside 
the head of the bed, or under the pillow, is to court 
being disarmed during your sleep, and recommends 
having it between the mattresses, handy to your 
reach, or in a padded bag hanging at the side of 
your bed under the sheets, the object of the padding 
being to prevent the revolver making a noise against 
the bed when you are drawing it. 

This is all very well if you remember to take out 
the revolver each morning; if you forget, and the 
housemaid makes up the bed roughly, there may be 
trouble. 

It also advises rolling under a bed or sofa as a 
precaution when exchanging shots. 

Make sure that nobody can tamper with your re- 
volver or cartridges. I knew of a case in which a 
muzzle-loading revolver was kept loaded in an un- 
locked box at the side of the bed. When there was 
a burglary in the house, this revolver was found to 
have been dipped in water and thus rendered useless ! 



CHAPTER XVII 

REVOLVER SHOOTING FOR LADIES 

A REVOLVER puts the weakest woman, who is 
a good shot, on an equality with the strongest 
man. It is especially suitable for ladies to defend 
themselves with, as they have, as a rule, steadier 
hands than men, and there are certain revolvers, just 
suited for ladies, which give no recoil, and yet are 
practical weapons. "U. M. C." gallery ammunition 
in a big .44 calibre Smith & Wesson Russian Model, 
gives practically no recoil, and I have seen a lady 
do very good traget shooting with it. With this re- 
volver and load I have killed three rabid, or alleged 
rabid, dogs, so it is a practical killing load. I use 
the same revolver and ammunition for shooting park 
bucks. 

Every lady should, to my mind, know how to use 
a revolver. She may at any time be in China or 
some other country where there are savage natives; 
and there is none of that danger of bruising the body 
which is so harmful to ladies using guns or rifles. 

The Smith & Wesson hammerless safety revolvers 
of .38 and .32 calibre are especially suitable for 

119 



120 



Revolver Shooting 



self-defence for ladies ; but I should not recommend 
a lady to use these or any other short, light self- 
defence revolvers unless it be actually necessary, as 
the recoil is heavy and apt to hurt a lady's hand 
(particularly between the first finger and thumb) 
and tear the skin. This is inevitable in a revolver 
made as light and as portable as possible, and ex- 




.32 Safety Smith & Wesson 

pected, nevertheless, to shoot a very heavy charge. 
The best plan is to fire a few shots (the hand be- 
ing protected with a thick driving glove, from which 
the forefinger has been cut off), or, better still, ask 
a good shot, who also knows your " sighting," to do 
so for you, just to get the sights filed right, and 
then keep this pistol for self-defence only, and do 
practising and competing with a more accurate and 
more pleasant shooting weapon. 



Revolver Shooting for Ladies 121 

The revolver to be used for practice and in com- 
petitions must depend upon your physique. If you 
are moderately strong, I think the .44 Russian 
Model Smith & Wesson, with the Union Metallic 
Cartridge Co.'s gallery ammunition, is as good as 
any; or, if this is too heavy, the .38 or .32 calibre 
Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers, with gallery 




Interchangeable .32 Barrel 

ammunition, are very good and are specially in- 
tended for the use of ladies. 

The Smith & Wesson .32 calibre in .44 calibre 
frame, which I like for fifty-yards target shooting, 
is rather heavy for a lady. Its size is an advantage 
for a man, as he can hold steadier with some little 
weight in his hand. Ladies who are of slight build 
may find it too heavy; but with gallery ammunition 
it has no recoil whatever, which is a great advantage 
for ladies. 

Always have a barrel not shorter than five inches, 
and not longer than six inches, and save the weight, 



122 Revolver Shooting 

if you want a light weapon, in the general make-up 
of the revolver, not in length of barrel, as you lose 
so much accuracy with a three-inch or four-inch 
barrel that it spoils any pleasure in shooting. 

If you confine yourself to light ammunition, you 
can get a very light revolver which is safe with that 
charge, and has no recoil to speak of. 

The Smith & Wesson, which has interchange- 
able barrels of .32 calibre for revolver, and .22 for 
single-shot pistol, is a very suitable weapon for a 
lady. 

The lighter forms of single-shot Stevens pistols of 
.22 calibre are exceptionally well adapted to the use 
of ladies who prefer a single-shot pistol. 

In mentioning particular firms, both here and 
elsewhere in this book, I must not be understood to 
mean that the weapons of any one maker are better 
than those of another. All first-class makers turn 
out good revolvers and pistols ; and I merely men- 
tion those revolvers and pistols which I have used 
and am personally acquainted with, and which I find 
answer my requirements. 

A lady can carry a revolver hidden for self-defence 
in many more ways than a man, owing to her 
draperies affording more places for concealment. 
Cloaks, capes, etc., make good hiding-places for 
a revolver ; inside a muff is about one of the 
best places ; and a small revolver in the right 
hand, inside a muff, that hand hanging down by 



Revolver Shooting for Ladies 123 

the side, is ready for instant use. As ladies often 
carry their muffs in this way, it does not arouse 
suspicion. 

It is very important for ladies to protect their 
ears when shooting. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

SHOOTING IN THE DARK 

THERE are occasions on which it is necessary to 
shoot at night, as for a night-watchman ; or in 
the case of a wild animal's jumping into camp and 
carrying off some one; or in night attacks. For 
this work, an exceptionally large dead white front 
sight (either a fixed one or an adjustable one on a 
hinge or kept for handiness in the stock of the re- 
volver, and which can be fitted on when necessary) 
is needful. This sort of sight, though, can only be 
seen if there is moonlight, or at least some glimmer 
of light. 

In pitch-darkness, a large front sight with both 
itself and the rib of the barrel coated with luminous 
paint is useful, provided the revolver is, for several 
hours previous to being used, exposed to strong 
sunlight. If the revolver is kept all day in a case 
or holster, the paint will not shine at night. Also, 
in cleaning the revolver, the paint may be spoilt and 
may require renewing. I would not advise paint- 
ing any revolver you care about. 

This is perhaps the most satisfactory way, — learn- 

124 



Shooting in the Dark 125 

ing to shoot in the dark by the sense of direction, by 
pointing your revolver in the direction in which you 
conjecture the object to be, not attempting to see 
your sights or to "draw a bead." 

One can often see an animal on a very dark night 
by crouching down and getting it against the sky- 
line; and yet, on looking through the sights, you 
cannot discern anything. 

One form of practice is to have a target made of 
tissue paper, with a candle behind it to illuminate 
it. The sights are consequently seen in silhouette 
against it. This was the principle of the "Owl' 
series of prizes shot for in the early days of Wimble- 
don in the evenings. What I think better, so as to 
teach shooting by sense of direction, is to have one 
or more metal targets about a foot square, hung by 
wires (these will give out a ringing sound when 
struck, and the rest of the butt should be of sand, 
or sods, or wood, so as to make a different sound). 
Have a small sleigh-bell hung behind the middle of 
each target, operated by strings held by an assistant 
standing behind you. 

Now, let him ring the bells at random, you firing 
by sense of direction towards where you hear each 
bell ring. 

This practice can also be done in a shooting- 
gallery at night with all the lights turned down, and 
it is perhaps safer there than out-of-doors. 

You can even have targets behind you, and swing 



126 Revolver Shooting 

round and "snap " at them ; but this, and in fact all 
night shooting, is very dangerous, unless you can be 
absolutely certain that the bullets will do no damage, 
however wildly they may fly. 

A man with a good ear can do surprisingly ac- 
curate work in this style of shooting. 

Such practice can be done in daylight by being 
blindfolded; and then your assistant can notice 
where your misses go, and help you to improve 
your shooting. 



INDEX 

"Allowance," 78, 79 

American revolvers, 31 

American targets, 45 

Ammunition, 5—10, 121 

Army revolvers, 109 

Ash off cigar, shooting (trick exposed), 104 

Automatic pistols, 76 

Automatic revolver (Webley), 76 

Backgrounds, 91 

Binoculars, 83 

Bisley, 56-90 

Blank ammunition, 107 

Blindfold shooting (trick exposed), 104 

"Bobber," the, 56 

Boots for shooting, 54 

Bullets, 5-10 

Burglars, dealing with, 115 

Butts, 92 

Caps, 69 

Cards for shooting, 45, 98 

Cleaning revolvers, 11, 41, 69, 84 

Clothing for Bisley, 54 

Coaching, 87 

Cocking the revolver, 27, 51, 64, 112 

Colt revolvers, 5, 114, 121 

"Conjurers' " shooting, 102 

Cordite, 5 

127 



i28 Index 



Dark, shooting in the, 124-126 
De La Rue, cards sold by, 45 
Disappearing target, 56 
Double-action revolvers, 112 

Ears, protection of the, 58 

Ejecting mechanisms, 113, 114 

Elevation, 78-80 

Eley's ammunition, 7 

Extension stock, 12 

Eyes, care of the, 58, 76, 90 

Filing sights, 18 
Fouling in the barrel, 52 
Front-sight, patent (Winans's), 21, 54 
Front-sights, 21, 53, 54, 67 

Galleries, shooting, 43 
Gallery ammunition, 115, 121 
Glasses for the eyes, 76 

Hat, a useful, 54 

"Holding," remarks on, 53, 78 

Holsters, 13 

Ladies, revolver shooting for, 11 9-1 23 
Light for shooting-galleries, 43 
"Long Range," the, 83 

Man-stopping bullet, 48 

Martini rifle, 30 

Metronome, timing with a, 61 , 66, 77 

"Military" revolvers, 2, 9, 19 

Muscles, development of the, 29 

"O'clock" (on the target) explained, 32 



Index 129 



Paine, Ira, 93 

"Paine, Ira," sights, 20, 93 

Pillow, keeping a revolver under the, 118 

Pocket, carrying revolver in the, in 

Pocket, shooting through the, 113 

Pool-shooting, 47, 68 

Position, author's shooting, 26 

Powders, 53, 58 

Practice, 68 

"Proud Cap," 52 

Pull of trigger, see Trigger 

Rain, shooting in the, 48 

Rapid firing series, 71 

"Reaction-time," 80 

Russian Model, 8, 31, 38, 93, 114, 119 

Safety revolver, 109, no, 119 

Salt in cartridges, 117 

Screw-adjustment, rules as to, 54 

Self-defence, shooting in, 1 08-1 18 

Self-lubricating bullet, 9, 10 

Self-registering targets, objections to, 44 

Sense of direction, 125 

Sights, 15-22, 53, 54, 67, 79, 83, 92, 120, 124 

Smith & Wesson, weapons by, 5, 20, 27, 28, 30, 38, 93, no, 

114, 119-122 
Smokeless powders, 53 
Sound-deadener, patent, 59 
Spectacles, 57 

" Squeezing off , " 53, 64, no 
Stage-shooting, 91-101 
Stationary fifty-yards target, 83 
Stevens pistol, 93 
Stomach, shooting in the, 117 
Sun, best position of, 67 



130 Index 

Targets, 32, 44, 45, 56, 78 

Team-shooting, 85-87 

Telescope, 83 

Testing ammunition, etc., 70 

Time for shooting, best, 48, 76 

Timing, 65 

Traversing target, 77 

Trick-shooting exposed, 102-105 

Trigger, pull of. 69, 75 

Triggers, 75 

Twenty-yards stationary target, 47 

Union Metallic Cartridge Co., 5, 6, 7, 93, 119, 121 
Upside down, shooting with the revolver, 96 

Ventilating shaft for shooting-gallery, 43 

Webley bullets, 48 

Webley revolvers, 76 

Winans's model, 5, 38 

Wind, shooting in a high, 50, 76 



THE ART OF REVOLVER 
SHOOTING 

By WALTER WINANS 

Chevalier of the Imperial Order of St. Stanislas of Russia 
Vice-President of the National Rifle Association of Great Britain 

With nearly 200 Illustrations from Original Draw- 
ings by the author, and from Photographs specially 
taken for the book. Royal 8vo, handsomely printed, 
and bound in cloth extra, gilt top, uncut edges. 
Price, $5.00 net. 

Mr. Walter Winans, the well-known champion re- 
volver-shot, has been for many years working out the 
theory and practice of revolver-shooting, and this is the 
first occasion of his publishing the collected results of 
his close study of the weapon. 

Although several chapters of the book give minute 
instructions as to how to shoot in order to win prizes at 
the Bisley meeting, the author has not neglected the 
more general and practical side of the subject, and even 
such matters (hitherto regarded in the light of pro- 
fessional secrets) as trick- and stage-shooting, shooting 
in the dark, etc., are treated in detail not previously 
attempted, while a chapter on how to use the revolver 
(as distinct from target shooting) in warfare, has a 
present interest that must appeal to many. 

New York— G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS — London 



i 



*» 



<b* 












_ v 

■ V,B % 













LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 237 083 4 



I 



m\ 



m 



